


Pandemic

by bcbdrums



Category: Kim Possible (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Romance, Angst and Tragedy, Animal Death, Character Death, Comfort/Angst, Corpses, Current Events, Dead People, Depression, Domestic Fluff, Drama, Drama & Romance, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Graphic Description, Graphic Description of Corpses, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, Major Illness, Medical, Medical Conditions, Medical Procedures, Mild Smut, Minor Character Death, Minor Injuries, Non-Graphic Smut, Pandemics, Pregnancy, References to Depression, Romance, Sick Character, Sickfic, Smut, Tragedy, Unplanned Pregnancy, What Have I Done, animal testing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:14:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 86,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23299918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bcbdrums/pseuds/bcbdrums
Summary: "Come...come to bed with me," he said nervously.Too many emotions swirled within her at the kind insistence of his voice, the gentle authority in his eyes, and the tender way he held her hands as if they were glass and might break.  Her lips trembled and she didn't know what to do as everything inside her seemed to collapse under a tsunami wave of passions, both good and ill.
Relationships: Dr. Drakken & Shego (Kim Possible), Dr. Drakken/Shego (Kim Possible)
Comments: 23
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: FIRST — I know this fic is extremely long. I know it's unusual not to post in multiple chapters. But, this how I wanted to post it. So please don't leave a review saying I should've done chapters. The fic is broken up into segments with headings, but they vary in length. Those might help you break up your reading since you likely won't have time to read it all at once. So, now that that's out of the way...
> 
> Yes. This fic is exactly what you think it is. It's the only inspiration I've had to write at all basically since the new year. It is indeed about the 2020 pandemic. And if you think I'm making light of it by turning it into fanfic...I'm not. I'm really, really not.
> 
> Disclaimer — I'm not in the medical profession and know very little about medicine. So forgive (and please correct!) any egregious error. There were some things I was deliberately...shy about describing, in the interest of peoples' sensitivities.
> 
> There are many aspects of this story, especially in the earlier sections, based on or inspired by my personal experiences. Those who chat with me will recognize a few. I have more notes at the end about those specifically, but there are spoilers so do not skip there now.
> 
> I categorized this fic as Romance/Angst but you could also add Tragedy. The core of the story is Romance.
> 
> I rated the fic "T" so it shows up in all searches, but I consider it to be a solid "M." There are some rather horrifying scenes and descriptions, and 'mature' content, but I don't want to spoil anything... If you want spoilers, go to the AO3 version and read the tags there.
> 
> And, this is **VERY IMPORTANT** — this fic is set pre-So the Drama . It is an AU story, of course.

_It is an enemy that comes without warning. It sneaks silently behind your lines of defense. You don't know your haven has been compromised until it is too late. And by then...it has used you. It has made you its secret, unwilling ally in its war to destroy all that you love. You may never even discover this horrible truth, and spend a lifetime wondering how you lost all you hold dear._

_Its coming is accompanied by its partners: fear, anger, suspicion, greed, and chaos. It makes broad use of your quickness to accept these as your own companions, invading ever further until you have nothing left, its victory assured. And your world will never be the same. And you will never forget._

* * *

** Day 00 **

She gripped the front of his coat tightly as she pulled him backwards into his bedroom, their lips never parting. He didn't seem to know what to do with his hands as they moved from her waist to her shoulders and back again. When the door slid closed behind them she opened her eyes to place a kick on the lock-control, and then threw her arms around him as she kissed him more deeply.

His lips left hers suddenly and he stopped cold, looking down. She followed his gaze to see she had nearly pulled them into the moat. She let go of him as she smirked and hopped back over it and then sat on the edge of his bed. He crossed the moat and went toward her. He looked terrified. But it didn't stop him.

When he reached her she pulled him down to sit next to her with her arms around his neck and immediately began kissing him again. Her heart was racing, and a stirring of unique feelings she'd never had before began spreading from her heart across all of her senses. What was it?

She brought her hands back to his chest and began unbuttoning his coat as she kissed him. After a few moments his lips left hers and he stared down at what she was doing, his expression unreadable. She smirked and pushed him down on the bed as she continued making quick work of the buttons. Suddenly his expression changed into an annoyed frown, and a second later she found herself flipped on her back as he yanked down the zipper at the front of her suit.

She was so taken aback that she didn't move for a moment, her breaths quickening as he struggled with the belt around her waist. She reached up to unfasten his belt and his eyes briefly met hers, still annoyed but now uncertain. While he continued fumbling with her belt she started tugging his coat from his shoulders, and he let go of her to stand up and escape from the offending garment himself. She was up on her knees before he had finished and started tugging his shirt up over his head.

This seemed to annoy him further as he tried to complete the task but push her hands away at the same time. The shirt gone, they paused a moment as he now he was before her bare-chested. He still looked frustrated, but the uncertainty in his eyes was growing. She smirked and undid the latch on her belt that he'd been unable to find and tossed the accessory aside.

He hesitated. She reached up and pulled him down next to her again and kissed him, her heart beating so hard she was sure he could hear it. She tried to push him down to his back, but he grabbed one of her wrists and pulled her off balance while his other hand pulled her suit's zipper the rest of the way down. He flipped her to her back again and then his hands were pulling back the lapels of her suit and revealing her sports bra underneath.

He paused, and she found herself hesitating too.

_'Why am I doing this? Why are we doing this?'_

He started to look scared again. It angered her. With a growl she shoved him away and he fell back to sit on his rear. A second later she was across his lap, her knees on either side of his hips as she pressed closer to him and pulled the arms of her jumpsuit down. She kissed him open-mouthed, and a moment later his hands were helping with her suit. She kissed his lips...and then his face, his jaw, and his neck. He seemed to take her cue and a moment later he was suckling at her neck and she found her hands sliding up his chest and then gripping his shoulders.

She bit down hard on her lip to combat the sensations his kiss sent flooding through her.

His hands found her waist and then slid down to her hips, resting there lightly. She reached between them for the belt that held up his pants, and then she felt him tugging at the fabric of her suit as together they rose up to their knees facing each other. She got his belt unbuckled and continued to undo the front of his pants. He startled her by shoving her down onto the bed, frustration in his eyes again. He tried tugging at her suit to get it over her hips, but she interrupted his effort by sitting up to take her boots off. He noticed and he reached down to yank off his own boots, eliminating the last of the most difficult obstacles.

He paused again, his eyes frustrated and uncertain as his chest heaved. Smirking to hide her trembling, she pulled her bra off over her head in one quick motion, her hair falling in disarray over her shoulders as she tossed the garment aside. She heard the faint catch of his breath as he stared at her. She launched forward to push him down, but he caught her wrists and maintained his balance as they faced each other on their knees again. She scowled at him. His look almost mirrored hers. And then they were kissing ravenously as she fought to free her hands from his unrelenting hold. Finally he let her go and her arms went around his shoulders to cling to him as his arms encircled her waist.

His lips found her neck again, and Shego found her voice.

"Oh!" she gasped. "Drakken!"

* * *

** Day 28 **

Shego woke suddenly at the feeling of something missing, though she wasn't immediately sure what it was. She lay prone and spread-eagle beneath the heavy blankets of the massive bed, with both arms folded beneath her pillow and her face turned out toward the wall. She bent one knee and pulled her leg up toward her torso in a stretch as she felt along the mattress above her head until she found the headboard.

Her body ached and felt light at the same time. She suddenly realized what was missing.

"Drakken?" she called, sitting up in a rush, eyes darting around the room. In the few moments it took for her vision to clear in the dim light she spotted him, dressed and just finishing tying back his hair.

He looked at her in response, but his expression was one of distraction. His eyes didn't quite meet hers as his brow remained furrowed in worry.

"Come back here," she said insistently.

He reached for his lab coat, shaking his head with a determined frown.

"Work to do..."

"Come back here..." she said, leaning back on her hands and letting the blankets slip and reveal her nude form. "I'm not done with you yet."

Drakken froze and stared at her for several seconds as she tempted him, but then he shook his head and the worry in his eyes intensified. He started toward the door as he put one arm into his coat sleeve.

Shego launched across the bed and grabbed his shoulder as he passed close enough, pulling him off balance until he landed sideways on the bed and with his wrist under his hip.

"OW!" he cried, pulling his wrist out from beneath him and clutching it to his chest. When his eyes met hers they were narrowed in annoyance. "Shego, I don't have time for...for..."

She had self-consciously pushed her hair in front of her to give her some modesty as she moved closer to him and set her hands on his shoulders.

"You had time last night. Come on, the world can wait..."

"You don't know that," he said, pulling away from her with a frown.

She sat back, blinking in surprise. "...Why is this suddenly so important? What do you think's gonna happen?"

"This isn't some...some bio-weapon that we can control!" he said angrily, shaking his head. "This has the potential to be worse than anything the world has ever faced."

She set her hands on his shoulders again. "It can't be that bad? I mean...back when there were real plagues we didn't have any knowledge or means to stop them. But this is the 21st century."

He looked at her seriously. "We don't know what we don't know until we know it."

"...Say that five times fast," she smirked.

He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back harshly, standing and walking stiffly toward the door the moment her hands were off of him. Shego stared with her jaw hanging open as she sat up again from where he had pushed her down onto the mattress. She knew he _could_ be...dangerous...but he so rarely turned on her that it took her by surprise.

Especially after his tenderness the night before.

She glanced around until she saw his discarded t-shirt from the previous day laying on the floor. She slipped it on and hurried about gathering up her things. She needed a shower, and then...it was well-past the time for a serious talk about their relationship.

* * *

"Why are you so worried?"

"Mmh," Drakken grunted, staring up at the computer screen in the lair's lab.

"I mean...nobody's even talking about it. You didn't even know about it until yesterday. _I'm_ the one who told you about it."

"Mmh."

Shego glanced from his intent face to the screen, where he was reading something that had no pictures and single-spaced text from top to bottom. It made her dizzy and she quickly looked away.

"Epidemics happen all the time. Every few years or so a third-world country gets one. And sometimes they spread to a few more. But we don't live in a third-world country, Doc."

"You know that's not even what that term means?" he said, glancing at her suddenly.

"Huh?"

He shook his head and turned back to the screen. "Never mind."

Shego stood and moved to stand behind him, setting her hands lightly on his shoulders. They tensed at her touch.

"Do you realize," he said, slowly turning to face her, "that we may not be getting accurate reports from these so-called third-world countries?"

Shego blinked. "Um..."

"And that it can take up to two weeks before any symptoms are shown? And that there exists no reliable test worldwide to determine if someone has the disease? And...never mind that there is no way to factor in the unreported and undiagnosed cases into any of these predictions," he said, gesturing up at the busy screen.

Shego stared at him. His frown deepened and he turned back to the computer with a scoff.

"You know what? Whatever. You go ahead and panic like you do with every little splinter you get. I've got plans today anyway."

She turned to leave so quickly that she missed his hand reaching out for her and his sad expression.

* * *

Shego pulled a hanger off the department store rack and admired the fine black leather and tailoring of the jacket she had selected. It would look good on her... But she couldn't find the energy to try it on. She couldn't stop thinking about Drakken's stubbornness, and the way they kept skirting around the issue of their relationship.

They had enjoyed a few nights of passion throughout the past month, but they had yet to have any serious discussion about what they were to each other. She had mentally gone back and forth about it, deliberately shutting out all thoughts of _'love'_ and telling herself that sometimes such things happened with villains. Especially ones who had worked together as long as she and Drakken had.

For his part, his regular behaviors toward her were unchanged. The only time he acted any different was when she coaxed him away from his lab and into his bedroom. Or...stayed in the lab, that one time. And then his tension and fury dissolved as his single-mindedness refocused on bringing her to ecstasy. And she was more than happy to give him the same.

But there was one unusual aspect to the new part of their association that she had noticed _—_ other than some playful teasing, he barely said a word during their nights of passion.

She wondered...if his silence meant something. Of course, she talked enough for the both of them, if one could count shouting his name repeatedly as talking...

"Shego?"

The villainess jumped at the voice at her shoulder and she whirled around to face her shopping companion. She hoped he wouldn't notice the flush in her cheeks that had resulted from her thoughts.

"What, Junior?"

"You are very distracted today. Is something the matter?"

"Oh... No, it's just that Drakken is in one of his moods. He's going to be obsessed with his new project for days."

"More shopping for us, yes? Or perhaps it is time to take a vacation."

"Maybe..." Shego shrugged, putting the jacket back on the rack. Thinking about the previous evening, she found that a vacation just didn't have the same appeal...

"Would you like to visit my favorite resort overseas? Look, here are pictures from my last trip."

Photos dropped in a long accordion-fold from the wallet Junior held up, and Shego tried to focus on the images of her younger friend in a Speedo on the white beaches. But she couldn't get Drakken out of her mind. Why was he so concerned about something he hadn't even known had existed a day before?

"Sure, that looks great," she said with a half-smile. "You want to come with me?"

"Ah no, I am afraid my father has a slight cold and this demands my attention," he said with an embarrassed cough.

Shego crossed her arms. "Your dad makes _you_ take care of him when he's sick?"

Junior looked affronted. "Of course not! Good heavens, the germs! No no, it is that he is afraid I shall get up to some scheme unworthy of his villainous prowess while he is unable to supervise me. So I will be unable to travel until he is well."

"Uh huh... Yeah...well, enjoy your house arrest. I'll be enjoying the beach away from Drakken's new obsession."

"Please do! Take pictures for me!"

"Sure," Shego said, giving him a half-grin.

* * *

** Day 41 **

Shego bustled into the lair with her arms full of shopping bags from her overseas vacation. It had been very relaxing...except for when she had tried to socialize with other vacationers. As soon as the small talk was through, all anyone wanted to talk about was that disease. It had made her think of Drakken more often than she wanted to and soured the trip, so she left much earlier than the two weeks she had planned on staying.

"Yo, Dr. D.? Anybody home?" she called out as she dumped all of her purchases onto the sofa.

That part of the lair was always silent when unoccupied, but for some reason this time it didn't feel right. She strode through the living area and toward the lab. During midday, that was the only place Drakken would be.

When she opened the door and saw the familiar hunch of shoulders beneath a dark blue jacket sitting at the workbench, she sighed in relief. But relieved from what, she wasn't sure.

"Hey Dr. D.? I'm back."

Drakken turned with a whirl, startled. "Shego!" he snapped.

Shego chuckled and raised her hands in defense. "Whoa, wound a little tight there aren't you?"

Drakken's frown slowly turned into a smirk.

"I just got used to the peace and quiet."

Shego frowned as he turned back to his workbench. She looked up at the computer screen where three graphs were displayed and then something that looked like an active anti-malware scanner, but wasn't. She stepped up next to the mad scientist and saw he had papers spread all over the desk covered in his handwriting. There were chemical formulas, equations, and various short-hand notes on all of them. There was also a brand new microscope half-unpacked sitting in its Styrofoam packaging on the floor next to him.

"What's all this? Come up with something new while I was gone?" she said, coughing once into her wrist as she leaned against the desk.

"I've been running projections..." he muttered.

"Of what?"

"Of the potential for spread of the disease."

Shego's smirk fell. " _That's_ what all this is? You're still on that? It's been over a week!"

Drakken scowled at her and looked back to his notes.

"While you've been lounging on a beach somewhere, I've actually been doing something productive."

"Well, I'll give it to you...that _would_ be a first."

Drakken grunted and rose from the chair, crossing over to the computer screen. "This is very serious, Shego. This disease has the potential to be the worst epidemic in all of known history."

Shego crossed her arms and smirked as he began gesturing to the graphs.

"Look at these predictions! At the rate it is spreading, in three months the entire world could be dead! And no one is even talking about it!"

"Yeah, nobody to rule over would be no fun."

Drakken's expression was unreadable as he stared at her. After several seconds had passed she started to feel a bit uncomfortable. She coughed into her shoulder.

Drakken headed back to his workbench and hunched over again, not giving her another glance.

"Well hey, if you get tired of panicking over nothing, I bought something for you while I was gone."

She felt a bit of the discomfort start to pass when he peered at her curiously over his shoulder.

"Oh? What is it?" he asked slowly.

Shego smirked and tossed her hair as she turned to leave. "You'll have to come find out."

* * *

Shego looked at the clock. It was almost midnight. With a huff of annoyance she tossed aside the third magazine she had read cover to cover and finger-combed her hair.

He wasn't coming. He was going to stay in the lab and continue obsessing over a stupid nothing all night.

_'Serves him right. He'll never know what he missed.'_

She sat up and was about to start blowing out the candles when she heard the door slide open. In a flash she had flopped back down on the bed and assumed the pose she wanted him to find her in. She smoothed her hair out just before he poked his head through the door.

"Shego?" he said quietly as he peered inside. "Oh, there you—"

His eyes went wide as he choked on his words. Shego grinned excitedly.

She had set the bedroom up for an evening of pampering for him. She had a tasting platter of wines set up on the right side of the headboard, each one paired with different hand-crafted chocolates that she had purchased at the resort. On the left she had massage oil heated and ready, and lining the entire back of the headboard were rows of candles which she had positioned in such a way to cast just the right shadows on her curves as she lay waiting for him atop the new, blue silk sheets. And of course, there was her purple and gold lingerie.

Drakken took two steps into the room, his jaw working but no sound coming out. Shego refrained from biting her lip, as she had put a dark red lipstick on, and instead beckoned him forward with one finger.

He slowly obliged, his eyes moving over everything she had done in meticulous observation. She slowly sat up, tossing her hair behind her shoulders as she did.

"What do you want first?" she asked. "Massage, or chocolates?"

She had gestured to both the massage oil and the tasting platter as she spoke, and his eyes had followed each of her hands in turn. He swallowed anxiously.

"Shego..." he said softly. She couldn't tell if he was awed or scared.

He was close enough now for her to reach for him, and she pulled him down to sit on the edge of the bed and rested her forearms on his shoulders.

"Time to relax, Doc. Take your clothes off," she said, only mildly surprised at the flutter in her chest at her own words.

He blushed and began to oblige. The racing of her heart increased as he finally took in her appearance with the same attention he had everything else. She lay back on the bed again in the sultry pose she had practiced and thrilled in the way his eyes widened. She noticed his clothes were coming off faster.

She had the faint thought that maybe...after that night, she would have a better idea of what they were. And despite still refusing to let the word _'love'_ enter her mind, she wanted him to say...something...to let her know they were more than just...villain and side-kick who happened to sleep together.

Regardless of what they may be to each other, Drakken was as shy as he always was. So he left his boxers on as he sat on the bed and reached for her with hunger in his eyes.

"Ohhh no. Not yet. Pampering first."

He looked dismayed, but she reached past him and took one of the wine goblets off the card table and handed it to him. She grabbed the two chocolates that were paired with it and handed one to him.

"This is called chocolate silk. Each one is designed to go with a specific wine."

Drakken's brow furrowed. "How much of my money did you spend on this?"

"Does it matter? It's for you."

With a tiny frown Drakken popped the entire confection in his mouth. A second later his eyes widened and he hummed in delight.

"Now try the wine," she said, and he stared at the glass with less skepticism as he swallowed the chocolate. He sipped from the glass and his brow rose in surprise.

"See?" she said.

He looked back at her as she took a slow bite of her own piece of chocolate, running it across her lip and looking at him seductively. The wine glass started to slip from his hand and she grabbed it from him seconds before his hands gripped her arms and his lips found her neck.

Her breath caught...and she fought against a moan as he skillfully worshiped her skin.

"Mm-mm, no," she said after a moment's indulgence, pushing him away. "You're getting a massage first."

"Shego..." he whined. It was somehow cute in the current context.

She set the wine glass and her piece of chocolate down and coughed into her shoulder. That kiss on her neck was seriously making her reconsider...

But, she turned back to him with resolve. "You'll be happy you did. So spread out that towel and lay down," she said, pointing to the folded, heated towel next to the headboard.

Drakken sighed and did as she asked. As he spread the towel she heard him grumble. "If you didn't want me to...to do that, then you shouldn't look at me like that."

"Then this will be a good test of your self-control," she said with a smirk. Once he was face down on the towel she lightly dipped her fingers in the massage oil and began running it over her hands.

"What are these new sheets?" he asked, his voice half-muffled by the pillow.

"Silk," she said. She grinned as she crawled on her knees toward him and then lifted one leg over his. She straddled his thighs and sat down on his legs just below his rear, bringing her knees in close to his waist

"Shego?" he murmured as she started slowly running her oiled hands up his back.

"Mhmm?"

"I feel I should warn you I have no self-control."

She leaned forward and put one of her hands in his line of sight and flared it slightly.

"Don't forget I can make you do whatever I want."

Her smirk grew at the stunned surprise in his eyes and she leaned away, moving her hands down his back slowly. When she sat down again she rolled her hips slowly against his rear end. Her heart fluttered at the moan this act drew out of him—one of the few he had ever given, she realized. She wondered again why he was always so silent whenever they were intimate...and decided that one of her goals for that evening would be to change that.

She leaned forward and slowly kneaded his shoulders.

"Shego. I have no self-control," he stated.

"And I have plasma powers," she said, very lightly flaring her hands against his skin.

"Ow!"

"Just have some wine and relax," she said. "I'm bringing the vacation to you."

With a small grumble he shifted up on his elbows and grabbed the glass he had previously sipped from, downing the rest of the alcohol in a single swallow. She reached behind her and unclasped her bra, and after removing it dropped it on the bed where he could see it. She saw his brow rise before she lowered herself down to lay on his back.

"Let me take care of you..." she whispered into his ear.

She felt him give a shaky sigh as he relaxed back down onto the bed, and she slid her body slowly against his, her hair falling all around them.

* * *

** Day 42 **

When Shego woke up the next morning, Drakken was still there. She blinked and stared at him without focus. He was sleeping on his back with his head tilted slightly up toward the ceiling. Shego lay on her stomach a good two feet away in the massive bed, but one of his arms was lain casually across hers.

She realized then another unique aspect of their relationship— _'Relationship?'_ —and that was...no cuddling. In all the times they had woken up together, they were always distant from each other. She wondered if it meant anything.

She rolled onto her side and slowly, nervously started moving closer to him. Why was she nervous? After the night they had had, surely a little cuddling was...normal? She crept closer and gently set her head on his shoulder. As she draped an arm across his chest she realized her heart was pounding.

She frowned at herself. Why on earth should she be worried about cuddling? She had had wild, passionate sex with the man less than seven hours before. She had even gotten him to moan again during her elaborate foreplay...not after, though, she suddenly realized. He'd gone back to giving her the silent treatment.

It made no sense and was beginning to frustrate her. She was always praising his name, his body, his skill...and the most he would give her was a smile.

While her heart still pounded as she leaned against him, she found herself getting mad. She deserved some sort of verbal acknowledgement from him. Especially after all she'd done to make the night before special.

She was about to hit him in the chest and demand he wake up, but then she considered...if she started talking about their 'relationship' it might lead to some place she didn't like. She moved closer to him as she decided...she was okay with the way things were. While she didn't know what they were exactly...whatever they were, she was content with it.

She didn't want to lose it.

She snuggled even closer to him and closed her eyes, planning to go back to sleep, when she felt him shift.

Her heart raced again and she had a sudden desire to move away from him, to put back the two feet that were safe, and comfortable... But she didn't get the chance as he suddenly stiffened, realizing she was there.

_'Move... Move now!'_

She didn't move. He stretched...cleared his throat... And then cautiously set a hand on her arm.

Maybe...he wanted to have the conversation. Maybe he was having all the same confused thoughts she was. She opened her mouth to announce she was awake, but a dry cough came out instead, startling them both.

"Oh, y-you're awake," he said, moving away from her rapidly. Her head hit the sheets when his shoulder moved and she frowned.

"Hey!"

He wasn't out of the bed yet, just had put space between them and was looking oddly nervous. She wondered again if he had the same uncertainties she did, but that thought was pushed aside in favor of annoyance.

"You don't just move when someone is using you as a pillow," she lectured.

"Oh...s-sorry," he said, still looking anxious.

 _'Now's your chance...'_ she thought. She could say something... Ask him about what they were to each other.

Instead, she leapt atop him and pinned his hands above his head.

"I didn't say you could leave yet," she said with a smirk.

"Oh...are we still playing that game?" he asked. She noticed the anxiety in his eyes starting to fade.

"Maybe. If you keep doing things to make me mad. And you know what happens when I get mad."

He grinned deviously. "Yes. I do."

Her own smirk grew. A fight was what had started all of it to begin with.

It was an argument about something he was working on. The type where usually one or the other of them would get annoyed and leave, except neither of them had. The argument had just gotten louder and angrier and closer to each other's faces, until...she kissed him. She still had no idea why she had done it. But she had. And it was very soon after that they had ended up in his bed in a wild battle for dominance of a totally different kind.

She lay down against him and nuzzled his lips into a kiss. Her skin tingled with delight as he hummed into the touch, meeting her passion, wrapping his arms around her...and then...

"Shego..."

Her heart raced. That's what she wanted. It was the first time he had said her name. The first indication he had given that his pleasure was because it was _her_ he was with...

She gripped his shoulders tightly and kissed him again...but was interrupted by a cough that came on her so suddenly, that she sat up in surprise. She set her hands on either side of his shoulders as her body spasmed so intensely that she couldn't stay upright. She let herself fall on the mattress next to him.

"Shego? Are you okay?"

"Um...yeah," she fumbled for an excuse. "Just...forgot to breathe for a second." She suddenly felt very tired.

When she looked back at him the light and hint of something more in his eyes was gone, replaced with the same intense darkness that had driven her to take a spontaneous vacation over a week prior.

"I need to get back to work..." he muttered.

Shego frowned and crossed her arms.

"What are you doing anyway, other than panicking over a little flu that's hundreds of thousands of miles away from here?"

Drakken sat up, forcing her back, and looked at her with wide-eyed astonishment. She covered herself with her hair, suddenly uneasy under his stare.

"You haven't been paying attention, have you," he said disapprovingly. "Wasn't anyone talking about it...wherever you were?"

"Ugh, it was all anyone _would_ talk about it. It's why I came back so soon."

A brief flicker of sadness passed through his eyes then that Shego wanted to ask about, but knew she never would. He had already moved on anyway.

"It's spread to over two-dozen countries, including this one."

Shego found herself suddenly thinking less cavalierly. It had moved that fast?

"And," he continued, "because we get diagnoses on average at a two-week delay it's probably already much worse than we think it is. This could destroy the world, Shego."

He rolled out of the bed and grabbed his robe from his vanity, shrugging into it with a frown. Shego gathered the blue, silk bed-sheets around her as she stood up to challenge him.

"Isn't that something you want?"

He glared at her. "As you pointed out before, with no people in it there won't be a world left to rule."

* * *

** Day 43 **

Shego walked into the kitchen wearing her robe and pajamas. She didn't want to eat anything, nauseous as she was, but she knew she had to.

After Drakken had gone back to 'work' the day before, whatever that meant, Shego had cleaned up all her preparations from their special night and spent most of the rest of the day sorting through her other vacation purchases and being angry.

She wasn't so upset now that he _was_ focused on the epidemic... Because even she could see, it was a thing now. The news had started talking about it, though they just talked in circles on every network about the best way to handle the situation. She had rolled her eyes and turned the TV off.

No, her problem with Drakken was...that he seemed to want to do something about it. Which would technically be _saving_ the world, not taking it over. Which was definitely not in a villain's _modus operandi_.

But she hadn't taken the time to argue with him about it, since later that same day she'd started feeling sick. The cough that wouldn't die was the main issue, but she had also had a slight fever and was starting to get very nauseous.

She had decided that hiding out in her room was the best choice. The last thing she needed was him freaking out that she'd brought the disease home with her from her vacation or something. But if it moved as slow as he claimed it did, then _if_ she had it then she'd had it since before she left for vacation.

"Rrgh..." she growled in frustration as she microwaved water for tea. Being sick was annoying enough without now having to worry if she had some sort of world-ending virus.

Her body didn't ache too badly, which she knew meant the fever was low. She had purposely avoided taking painkillers so she could get a more accurate sense of how she was doing. It was really just the cough and the nausea.

Despite that, she hated being cooped up in her room, and she felt up to maybe some people-watching with Junior at the beach. As her tea steeped, she pressed the speed dial on her phone that had his number.

The phone rang out and went to voicemail, to her surprise. She hung up and tried again. This time he answered on the third ring.

_"Shego?"_

"Hey Junior," she said before covering the receiver to cough. "What do you say we—"

 _"Oh Shego! It is horrible!"_ he interrupted her.

"Huh? What is?"

_"My father has contracted that horrible disease! And so have I!"_

Shego suddenly found her heart racing.

"What?"

She heard Junior cough away from the receiver and thought about her own cough. But before she could give presence to the thought, he spoke again.

_"Oh Shego it is dreadful! Whatever will I do without my beloved father?"_

"Wait, slow down," she said, gesturing even though he couldn't see. "You think he's...that he's actually going to die?"

She could hear him sniffling through the phone. _"The doctors say he is at the highest risk, because of his heart condition."_

"Heart condition?"

 _"Yes. The doctors have had him sedated for the last three days just to stop the—"_ he broke off to cough, _"—the coughing. Oh, Shego!"_

Shego pulled the receiver away slightly as he wailed, but then her eyes narrowed as she coughed herself.

"You have it too? What are the symptoms?"

Junior sniffled again. _"Fever, the horrible coughing, tiredness... Difficulty breathing."_

She took a deep breath and considered her own symptoms. "...What did the doctors say about you?"

 _"Oh, I shall recover because I am young and healthy,"_ he said almost nonchalantly. He broke off coughing again.

Shego coughed at the same time and found herself suddenly worried. How long had Drakken said it took for symptoms to show up? And she was also nauseous, which Junior hadn't mentioned...

"Hey listen, uh... Is there a treatment for this thing?" she asked.

 _"No,"_ Junior replied. She could tell he was shaking his head.

"Well...just...um. If you need me to kidnap some rich doctor for you, I will."

_"Oh Shego...you are the dearest friend! Now...what were you calling about?"_

"Oh, uh...to see if you wanted to go to the beach. But you've got more important things to do."

_"Yes...I am afraid so."_

"Okay, well...I'll call you later to see how your dad is doing."

_"Thank you Shego!"_

After she had hung up, Shego grabbed her tea and hurried away to her room before she could chance to bump into Drakken. If she _did_ have the disease...he would absolutely freak out. And if the young and healthy weren't as susceptible to it, then...she would just stay in her room until she was better. Then he would never know.

* * *

** Day 45 **

There was a knock at Shego's bedroom door, and it opened a crack. Shego muted the TV and glared at the blue face poking through the doorway. She willed herself not to cough as she hurriedly sat up in her bed.

"Um...Shego?"

"What?" she groaned, crossing her arms.

Drakken recoiled slightly at her tone, but didn't leave. He set a hand on the door-frame and began picking at the metal bolts.

"I...I haven't seen you in a few days," he said.

"Since when do you notice when I disappear?" she retorted.

"Well, I...I just... I haven't seen you since...um. And I was wondering, if you wanted...to come sleep in my room tonight?"

Shego glanced at the clock and saw it was almost 11:00 PM. She glared at him as a cough welled up in her chest, but she kept her lips firmly together. He couldn't know.

"So you don't care that I'm gone until you want sex?" she said once the urge to cough had subsided.

His face reddened and he began waving his hands in innocence.

"No—!"

"Well, forget it," she interrupted him, laying back down. A cough finally escaped her lips. She peripherally saw his brow rise.

"Are you sick?"

"Stomachache," she said quickly. It was true enough. The nausea had only gotten worse.

"Oh... Do you need—?"

"No! Now go away you horny blue dolt!"

Shego hid her face, holding utterly still as another urge to cough came. As soon as she heard the door close she let it out, coughing until she felt her side spasm. The effort left her feeling even more nauseous than before.

Or maybe it was because of the words she'd used to get rid of Drakken.

* * *

** Day 47 **

Shego got dressed that afternoon, but not in her suit. Instead she put on comfortable yoga pants, a t-shirt, and slippers before venturing out of her room. She had decided after two days of feeling heartsick in addition to everything else that she needed to see Drakken. But first she had taken every effort to decontaminate herself. She had practically emptied the lair of cleaners disinfecting the surfaces in her room, had showered before and after her cleaning frenzy, and was determined not to touch anything in the lair until she was back in her bed.

The last thing she needed was him getting sick too.

Her fever was coming and going, along with the nausea, but the coughing was still the worst. Maybe if she just said hello to him from the door of the lab, and then went back to her room... She wanted him to know she wasn't mad at him. She didn't know why that was suddenly important, but it was.

She padded across the lair and thought about calling Junior to check on his dad. But she was afraid of what she might find out if she did. She had spent her days of isolation finally paying attention and watching all the news coverage about the disease. Once she had filtered out the panic and circular talk about what the response should be, the facts were actually just as scary as Drakken had said.

And he had tried to warn her two weeks ago.

She reached the lab and was thankful the door was unlocked; it slid open without her having to touch the keypad.

Drakken was predictably hunched over his desk. Papers were still strewn over it, and the computer screen displayed different graphs from the last time she had seen it and some type of calculation program. The microscope was up on the desk and Drakken had a grid of Petri dishes spread out behind it.

"How's it going, Dr. D.?" she asked quietly from the doorway.

Drakken jumped, startled just like always. But when he turned to glare at her he didn't say a word, just gave her a once-over and then turned back to his work.

"I created a reliable test for the virus. It yields results within an hour," he said so quietly she almost didn't hear. Against her better judgment, she took a few steps forward.

"...How do you know it works?"

Just then a violent cough racked Drakken's frame that sent him to his feet, clinging to the edge of the desk for support. Shego ran toward him but stopped about ten feet distant, her eyes wide in fright.

_'No... He can't...'_

When the coughing subsided he sank heavily into the chair and looked up at her sadly.

"I have the disease."

She rushed forward and set her hand on his forehead. His skin was like touching a hot coal. She gasped.

"You need to go to the hospital!"

"No. I don't want to spread it around. We're on an island..." His eyes suddenly went wide as he looked at her. "Get away!"

He shoved her back violently and she barely kept her balance as she stumbled several steps away from him. A second later he was pushing a box of wet wipes toward her along the floor with his foot.

"Dr. D.!" she complained.

"I don't want you to catch it!" he cried.

A sort of sinking pain gripped her heart as she looked at his panicked face.

"Dr. D...." she repeated, "I already have it. You caught it from me."

His lips parted and the panic on his face changed to fear. He grabbed a cotton swab from a nearby stack and started toward her.

"I don't need to be tested!" she said, raising her hands in protest. But he was determined, so she let him swab her cheek as she rolled her eyes and then watched as he rubbed the swab inside a prepared Petri dish. "I'm sure I've got it...because Junior has it, and so does his dad. And I was shopping with Junior the day I left for vacation. The timeline works out..."

"Finally paying attention now that you're the one sick?" Drakken asked, glancing up with a glare.

Shego crossed her arms and frowned.

Drakken froze and then narrowed his eyes at her. "Wait...Senior has it?"

"Yeah. Junior's really freaked out. Since...I'm guessing no one has come up with a cure since I last checked?"

Drakken frowned and shook his head, turning back to his work.

"So...yeah," Shego said, turning away as she coughed into her elbow. There was no point in hiding it from him now. When the cough subsided she turned back and caught a deep sadness in his eyes before he concealed it and turned to his work again. "So, I was saying...you need to go to a hospital."

She approached him but he waved her off with one hand as he looked into the microscope.

"I'm more likely to discover a treatment working here alone than all of those buffoons on TV who are just arguing about who's to blame..."

Shego silently agreed with him, but still she moved forward and tugged on his arm to get him out of the chair. "Your fever is too high. It's not healthy. You have to bring it down first before you can keep working."

"I've taken some NSAIDs," he said, waving her off again and then coughing into his elbow, less violently than the last time.

Shego's eyes widened. "You mean this is how bad it is _with_ medicine!?"

Drakken realized his mistake and narrowed his eyes. He ignored her and continued taking notes on whatever was under the microscope.

"Hospital. Now. No choice," Shego said, flaring her hand threateningly in front of him.

He sighed and set his pen down.

The resigned look in his eyes suddenly made everything around her feel darker somehow, and she let her glow go out.

"I caught it from you?" He only glanced at her before furrowing his brow and staring straight ahead at nothing. It was more of a statement than a question. "And I started showing symptoms...three days later... So it won't be long before my symptoms are acute." He finally turned to face her, his expression bitter. "I would rather die knowing I had tried, then die languishing in some hospital."

Shego felt a lump come to her throat. "Y-you're not gonna die, Doc."

He smiled at her weakly and turned back to his work.

She stepped forward and set her hands down on top of his papers, forcing him to look up at her.

"You're not going to die. You're not in the high risk category. You're healthy, and you're not even fifty yet."

He looked down at his hands, his eyes sad despite the smile on his face. Shego felt the lump in her throat grow and her heartbeat quicken. She turned away quickly to cough into her shoulder.

"Haven't you ever wondered why I'm blue?" he said quietly.

Shego looked back at him.

"It's too long a story, but...the point is...my immune system was heavily compromised as a result of what happened."

Shego stared at him and thought back to every other time he had caught so little a thing as a cold. He was always sick for far longer than any normal, healthy person would be. Her heart pounded in sudden fear.

"So...I'm not going to the hospital," he said, setting his jaw in determination. He grabbed her arms and gently started pushing her out of the way so he could continue working. A horrible cough racked his frame before he could pick up the pen.

Shego swallowed down the lump in her throat and stepped to his side, setting a hand on his shoulder.

"Can I help?"

* * *

** Day 50 **

Shego turned off the TV and grabbed her phone, horrified by the death toll that seemed to double daily now with the strange disease. With shaking hands she pressed the speed dial and was surprised to have her call answered on the second ring.

"Hi, Junior?" Shego said into the phone hesitantly.

 _"Hello Shego,"_ her younger friend said flatly. _"Thank you for calling."_

The nervous lump in Shego's throat grew. "I...I was calling to see how your father is doing," she said, gripping the phone tightly in both hands.

_"Father... Father is dead."_

* * *

** Day 52 **

Shego's fever had broken, but her nausea hadn't abated. It was particularly bad that morning so she had decided to sleep in. She kept forgetting to ask Drakken about the nausea as she was instead focused on attempting to keep him healthy. She made sure he went to sleep early each night despite his protests, she made him eat healthful foods, and she was always at his side with a cold compress for his head.

The first day he had been annoyed. The second day he seemed to tolerate it. The third day, he was grateful. And he kept looking at her like he wanted to say something. But whenever she gave him the space to do so, all he ever did was thank her and go back to his work.

And sadly, he was no closer to finding a treatment for the disease.

Shego rolled over in her bed and looked at the clock. 8:43 AM. Drakken would already be up and working. She rolled out of bed and sluggishly went through her morning routine, still wondering about her nausea. Food poisoning would have worked through her system by now, so it had to be related to the virus. Or maybe she had contracted something else while on vacation?

She hoped not, since it certainly would have transferred to Drakken by that time. And he was looking worse by the day.

When she had bid him goodnight the night before, insisting he use an oxygen respirator she had procured for him, the dark circles under his eyes were the worst she had ever seen. He may as well have actually been on fire for how bad the fever was, and the cough was sapping his energy faster and faster each day. She was preparing to give him no option on going to the hospital, knowing they could certainly treat his symptoms better than she could. But she would rather he go willingly, so she needed to prepare an argument.

She dressed in her suit and left her room, heading for the kitchen. She could eat something first, and so make sure he had eaten too.

On her way she passed through the living room...and noticed a small shock of black hair poking over the top of the sofa.

"Drakken?" she asked, stepping around the sofa. It was indeed the mad scientist sitting there.

He was dressed for the day but had foregone his lab coat, and was slumped so low on the sofa she was amazed he'd not fallen off. The oxygen respirator was on the floor next to him and his eyes were closed. A moment later she saw his chest slowly rise, and fall equally slowly. And then he began to cough.

"Drakken?" she said more loudly, sitting down next to him and trying to pull him up.

His eyes fluttered open and he glanced around in disorientation as he struggled to get upright on the sofa, coughing all the while. She set her hand on his forehead and could feel the heat even through her glove. A layer of sweat came away from his skin onto her hand and she wiped it on the sofa cushion.

He doubled over and coughed for nearly a minute into the armrest of the sofa. He held his hand out suddenly and she quickly thrust tissues into it, the routine having become sadly familiar over the past several days.

When the cough subsided and he dropped the used tissues onto the floor, he let his head fall back against the sofa and his eyes closed again.

"I give up," he said quietly.

Shego's eyes widened. "What?" she said, her breath catching as her skin tingled in alarm.

"I can't do it... I don't have... There isn't enough time left," he said bitterly. "I couldn't even make it to the lab this morning."

"You can't give up... You created an accurate test before anyone else did... You recognized the problem before most of the world did. I'm sure you can find a cure."

He peered at her. "I'm dying, so you finally give me some pity-confidence?"

Shego felt a fiery anger rise in her. It wasn't pity! It was—

It was...?

Her thoughts broke off as a horrible wave of nausea struck her.

"I'll be right back," she stammered as she ran for her room and the toilet. She got there just in time to vomit up a smidgen of the previous night's dinner and bile.

She leaned back from the horrible smell and tried to catch her breath. That was the third time in two days. But it didn't make sense! And she didn't feel any better.

Maybe her unique biology was affected by the virus differently?

She sighed and wiped her mouth off with toilet paper, finishing off the roll. She opened the cabinet under the sink to get a new one, and as she pulled out the toilet tissue a different blue package under the sink caught her eye.

All the loose ends in her brain suddenly clicked into place.

"Oh no..." she breathed.

She scrambled to her feet and started searching through her medicine cabinet.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Shego was walking nervously back into the living room. Drakken was still seated on the couch, his head leaned back and his eyes closed.

"Hey...Dr. D.?" she said when she reached the other end of the sofa, her voice shaking along with the rest of her.

His eyes opened to tiny slits and he peered at her before letting them close again. She noted the sweat staining his shirt and fairly dripping from his brow.

"I've...I've gotta tell you something," she continued, sitting down about a foot away from him.

He coughed once, and then with effort pressed himself into the corner of the couch. "Tell me quickly so I can get dying over with."

Shego's throat tightened.

He let his head fall back. "Don't let Dementor come to my funeral... Oh," he peered at her sadly, "if you don't want to organize it...then...pay for someone else to. I have a fund set up, and the plans are...already made."

"Dr. D. I'm...pregnant."

His eyes shot wide open. With effort he pushed against the sofa until he was sitting fully upright and staring at her.

"You mean... With me? My...?"

"Yes," she nodded.

He was staring at her slack-jawed, his eyes fever-bright and intense. And then he was standing, his legs shaking from the effort, and he gathered up the respirator and began to move past her.

"Where are you going?" she asked, confused.

"The lab. I have to find a cure! I have to save my— your— ...our...?"

As he looked down at her with the same slack-jawed stare, a fit of coughing suddenly overcame him. He dropped the respirator and sank back onto the couch, pressing into the corner again as he coughed into the cushion. Shego held out some tissues for him to take if necessary, and he grabbed them after several seconds.

 _'I guess he's okay with it...'_ she thought, setting a hand briefly over her stomach. She had only known for a few minutes, so she was still in shock herself. She wasn't sure how she had expected him to react.

But she was beginning to get an idea of how she wanted him to react.

His coughs subsided, and he leaned heavily against the sofa with his face twisted in pain. He started pushing himself up again, even his arms shaking from the effort, and she set a hand on his shoulder and lightly pushed him back down. She felt her fear rise with how easily he had fallen.

"I have to find a cure..." he protested, staring at her with wide-eyes. "I—"

He started coughing again, and Shego's face fell. Each day was worse than the one before... It was looking more and more like his initial judgment was correct: he might not survive.

She shifted closer to him on the sofa, and when his painful heaving subsided she turned around to face him and set her arms around him.

He shuddered in surprise and stared at her.

She half-sat on his lap and nervously picked at the fabric of his shirt as she looked into his uncertain eyes.

"So...it's a good thing?"

"What?" he asked, still clearly trying to process why she was so near.

"That I'm pregnant."

"Of course it is! Why wouldn't it—" He broke off suddenly as he clearly realized, she might not in fact agree. The fear that filled his eyes then was like nothing he had shown regarding his almost-certain death in the last few days.

"I...I..." he stammered, staring at her in disbelief. Finally he hung his head and sighed, a small sniffle coming from his nose. He reached out his hand and she gave him another tissue. "I understand..." he nodded without looking up, "if you wouldn't want to raise a child alone, if I'm not around anymore..."

Pain gripped her heart like a clenched fist. She set her fingers beneath his chin and raised it up.

"If you're gone...I would want your child even more...to remind me of you."

He sucked in a breath and held it, watching her in confusion and uncertainty.

"I've...gotta tell you something else," she continued. All of her confusion and anxiety from the past several weeks had finally resolved all at once. She knew it before the pregnancy test, as she saw him starting to slip away. But now with a baby binding them forever she felt brave enough to say it. Especially if this was her last chance.

"I love you, Dr. D."

His breath came out in a gasp. She watched as the worry in his eyes melted away into joy, and an instant later he had wrapped his arms tightly around her and was kissing her cheek.

"Oh...Shego!" he cried.

The pain started to release around her heart. She pushed on his shoulders until he loosened his grip, and then she began kissing his neck.

"Ohh..." he moaned, "Shego..."

His skin was like fire, and he tasted of too much salt from how much he had been sweating. But she continued kissing him so long as it meant drawing her name from his lips.

"Shego..."

She scooted off his lap and stood, hurriedly fumbling with the zipper of her suit. He stared at her incredulously.

"What...now? Here?"

She shrugged and started peeling herself out of her suit. "Yup."

"But...I can't, I...don't know if I can," he said, falling back against the couch again.

"...What if it's the last time?" she said quietly.

Drakken looked sad, and then thoughtful. "I'll never forget...the _last_ time," he said with a shy blush.

She grinned softly. "Me either." But, she thought to herself, it was missing one thing. She needed to hear him say her name.

When she stood before him in just her sport bra and briefs, he looked a little more lively. He instinctively moved to lay flat on the couch as she gently climbed over him and pulled his shirt off. She kissed the hot skin of his neck again and then down to his collarbone, and then down his chest.

"Shego... Oh..ohh... Shego..."

* * *

** Day 53 **

Drakken sat up in bed suddenly as a coughing fit shook his whole frame. Shego reflexively moved to his side to support him, remembering how the last fit nearly had him falling out of bed and spraining half his back.

His eyes were wide as he doubled over, only staying slightly upright due to her hands on his shoulders as she knelt on the bed in front of him. The coughing continued, as it always did, lasting nearly a minute this time.

"Stop," she finally said, worrying that he would severely injure his throat or chest or something else.

His wide eyes peered up at her in confusion. "If I... Could... Stop..." He gave up trying to respond through the violent convulsions until finally, whatever was forcing them out of him subsided and he began to fall to his side. She helped him lay down, watching him in concern. His breaths were long and labored and far too shallow for how much effort he was putting into them. And the amount of sweat on his forehead seemed to have doubled from the effort he'd just been through.

"How do you feel?" she asked slowly, not sure what else to say.

He closed his eyes, and when he answered his voice was hoarse. "Like an elephant...is sitting on my chest. And like I'm...being stabbed in the back. And every time I breathe, the knife...is pushed in deeper."

Shego's brow furrowed in worry. She helped him turn back over and straightened his bedcovers, and then stepped back from the bed to watch him. She glanced around the room briefly and then brought his desk chair over next to the bedside. As she sat and watched his tightly closed eyes, his sweat-drenched hair, and each painful intake of his breath, a dark, heavy feeling clouded her soul.

A coughing fit suddenly broke her thoughts, and she turned away and doubled over just as he opened his eyes to peer at her.

* * *

** Day 55 **

Shego sat by Drakken's bedside and held an ice pack against his forehead. His fever was still terrifyingly high, and she didn't dare leave him anymore in case she came back to find him...gone.

He only woke up to cough, and each time when the coughing subsided she put a straw from a cup with a hot broth concoction in his mouth that she'd found in his recipe book, and then after that a straw from a glass of ice water. She would only make him take as much broth as he could stand, but she would make him finish the water every time.

He was sweating all of it out faster than he could replenish it, anyway.

She forced him to lay on his side due to his labored breathing and kept the oxygen respirator on him at all times. He sounded like he was trying to breathe underwater, which absolutely terrified her. But she didn't know what else to do besides what she was already doing.

In the brief times he seemed to actually be at rest, she alternated between reading magazines and watching TV in his room to distract from her worry. Once she even attempted one of his technical journals, but that had lasted all of five minutes.

The various news channels reported the death toll at over 2,000 worldwide and Shego wondered if any of her other villain acquaintances had encountered the disease. But after the devastating phone call with Junior she had distanced herself from anyone except Drakken.

Her own fever had gone entirely and now she only had the cough. Her morning sickness wasn't abating however, but she didn't mind as much since it reminded her that she had something to live for...if Drakken died.

* * *

** Day 56 **

"Shego!" Drakken cried suddenly, and she sat up in her chair with a start.

She watched his feverish eyes that were darting around the room without focus as he pulled the respirator off his face, and she grabbed his head between her hands to center him.

"I'm right here. What is it? What do you need?"

"I forgot to..." His head fell back against the pillow.

He didn't move but to breathe, but the outburst—the first thing he had truly said in two days—scared her as much as it gave her hope.

"What is it?" she asked, gripping his shoulders and talking to keep him lucid. "What did you forget?"

He opened his eyes with effort and stared at her desperately.

"I forgot...to tell you..." His eyes fell closed again in exhaustion, but he forced them open. "I love you." He reached a hand out from beneath his sheets toward her abdomen. "Both of you."

Pain and joy hit her all at once in a confusing wave. "You told me," she said quietly.

"I did? No, I...I'm sure I forgot..."

She kissed his forehead as he passed out again, thinking back to the recent morning on the couch. He hadn't said the exact words, it was true. But she knew by the way he had said her name.

He had still insisted on going to the lab after their brief love-making that day, but he hadn't lasted long, retiring to his bed soon after lunch. And he had only left his bed twice in the days that followed to use the toilet, and once to take a bath that she forced him into.

She set her head down on the bed next to his and listened to his labored breaths. His face was bluer, if that was possible, and his lips definitely were. She'd gotten used to the constant sheen of sweat on his skin. Suddenly he erupted into another coughing fit. She sat back and waited, tissues in one hand and the cup of broth in the other.

"Shego..." he gasped when he had finished coughing. She put the straw in his mouth and he obediently drank. The broth and the water each took a few minutes to accomplish for how often he had to stop and catch his breath. When he finished the routine he looked at her desperately. "I forgot to tell you..."

"Shh..." Shego said, the pain winning over everything else tearing at her heart. She set the cups down and climbed into the bed with him.

"I forgot...to tell you..."

"I love you, Drakken," she murmured next to his ear and then kissed his neck. His skin was still like fire on her lips.

"Shego... I love you, too..." he murmured.

His arms went around her and she curled into his chest. The heat was uncomfortable, and she knew she couldn't stay that way very long for his sake—the last thing he needed was added heat—but it was wonderful to know that he did, in fact, like cuddling.

* * *

** Day 57 **

_Shego woke up pressed into Drakken's chest with her legs entwined in his. She felt a pang of regret from having fallen asleep with him so feverish, and then she realized...she wasn't as hot as she expected to be. She reached her hand up to his cheek and found it had cooled..._

_...And then she drew back in horror._

_"Drakken!" she cried, kneeling over him and shaking him by the shoulders. His eyes remained closed, his body limp, and his skin unhealthily pale. She dropped him back onto the bed and set both hands on his chest, desperately feeling for a heartbeat or breath._

_There were none._

_A choked gasp escaped her lips seconds before she fell on his chest and sobbed. She had killed him. She was careless, she brought the virus into the lair, and she had killed him._

* * *

Shego sat up from her nightmare with a loud cry.

"Drakken!" she cried, turning over and shaking him by the shoulders, tangling herself up in his sheets in the process.

His eyes flew open in a wild panic and a second later his hands held her wrists in an iron grip. She froze with a gasp of pain and tried to pull away, but his hold was far stronger than she had known he was capable of. Especially as sick as he was.

"Drakken!" she said again, more quietly and less frantic.

His eyes focused and found hers, and in confusion he let go of her wrists. "What...?"

She fell on his chest and cried, staining his already sweat-soaked t-shirt with her tears. She kissed at his neck and held him tightly.

"I thought..." she stammered through her tears.

"What?" Drakken asked again weakly. "Shego?"

She tried to calm her breathing as she lay against him. "I...had a nightmare," she explained.

He coughed, and she moved off of him so he could breathe. She pressed into his side and was rewarded with his arm laying heavily across her. She looked into his eyes and found them lucid and worried.

"Don't leave me..." she said quietly as she looked at him.

His lips parted for a moment and then he shook his head against his pillow sadly. "I don't want to."

She set her face against his shoulder and cried some more, the pain from the nightmare still gripping her chest and the images still horridly vivid. She felt his hand on her wrist and looked up with tears staining her face again.

"I hurt you..." he said, and she noticed the finger-shaped bruises already starting to form.

"It's okay," she said, setting her face against him again.

"Come here," he said, turning on his side and guiding her face toward his with a hand under her jaw. When she rested her head on the pillow across from his he leaned forward and kissed her wet cheek. He set his arm across her again and she pressed into his chest, wrapping one arm and one leg around him as her other hand gripped his shirt. She shifted down to rest her head under his chin, and once she did he gripped her shoulder tightly.

"I'm sorry," he said sadly.

"No!" she protested quietly, holding him tighter.

He sighed, and she felt him relax in her protective hold. She didn't close her eyes again for fear of seeing the nightmare, but instead stared at the part of his neck she could see and focused on the slight movement of his tendons as he breathed.

She lay that way for nearly an hour, tense as the nightmare replayed every time she tried to relax. But finally she gave into exhaustion and fell asleep in his heat again.

* * *

The next time Shego woke the first thing she did was look at Drakken for life signs. She sighed greatly at the feeling of his heartbeat against hers, and the rise and fall of his chest.

She reached up to brush his hair from his forehead and found his skin hot and dry. Tiny salt crystals came away on her fingertips. Her eyes widened.

_'Not enough fluids...'_

"Okay you, up," she said, tumbling out of the bed and pulling on his arm.

"What?" he blinked in disorientation. "Shego, stop..." he whined.

"Bath for you, and you're drinking a gallon of water. Come on, up!"

"Nnh..." he hummed in displeasure as he was dragged from the bed. He complied by leaning against her as she walked him into the bathroom.

She sat him on the edge of his giant tub and started the water running.

"Okay, I'm getting some ice water for you to drink and...don't drown while I'm gone."

Shego sprinted away to the kitchen, genuinely concerned he might just pass out and fall in, and suddenly became aware of her own physical condition. Her hair was a mess, her wrists were badly bruised, and she smelled a little ripe. _'Cuddling didn't help...'_ , she thought as she filled an emptied plastic milk jug with water and then started pushing ice cubes into it. She had run out of ingredients for the broth the day before.

She ran back to the bathroom and when she arrived found him sitting obediently but with a frown in the tub, his eyes closed as the water ran and filled it up around him. His knees looked like two blue volcanoes poking up out of the rippling water, and she was tempted to smile. The dire situation though, prevented that.

"You alive?" she snarked at him. His frown deepened as he opened his eyes and peered at her. "Good. Now drink."

She shoved the full jug at him, and he lifted it to his lips with shaking arms. She noticed then, it wasn't just his dark circles that were making him look ill... He had started losing weight.

He gasped in exhaustion as he set the jug down again after only a few swallows.

"Nope. You drink all of it," she said as she sat down on the edge of the tub.

"Maybe I don't want to..." he grumbled.

"Well, you have no choice, so do it."

He glowered at her as he drank from the jug again. She reached over and supported its weight at the bottom as his arms trembled, not letting him put it down until it was half-empty. He gasped and sank deeper into the bathtub, leaning his head back on the edge and closing his eyes.

"You're trying to kill me with water-poisoning."

"It's called water toxicity, and no I'm not. You're sweating out every single fluid in you and you need to drink to stay alive."

"Need electrolytes..."

Shego frowned. He was right. But she couldn't leave him to go to the store...

His expression had sobered a bit, and after a few rasping coughs he ducked his whole head under the water.

"Ew," she said when he came back up. "That's unsanitary."

"How else am I going to wash my hair?"

"Use the faucet, doy," she said.

He looked at the faucet, which she knew was entirely possible for him to use, but the grimace on his face meant he wasn't about to attempt it.

"You could wash my hair for me."

"Um, double ew."

"Or you could get in here with me," he said with a smirk.

Shego opened her mouth to make a smart remark back, but it died on her lips as she looked at him. His eyes were hollow and fever-bright, he still looked like he hadn't slept in weeks even though that was all he had been doing, and he definitely had more bones poking out than he had before... But he was smiling at her.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked seriously.

He considered for a moment. "Maybe?"

She leaned precariously over the tub and felt his forehead, and then kissed his neck in what had become her unique way of taking his temperature. She thought he may in fact be a bit cooler...

"Can't tell for sure with the water," she said, "but—"

He grabbed her arm suddenly and she had to brace herself on the opposite side of the tub to keep from falling in.

"You can still get in here with me," he said with a grin.

"Ruin this shirt, and you'll wish you were dead."

He let go of her arm, but was still grinning. She was saddened by the way his skin stretched over his cheekbones on his gaunt face. He leaned toward her with his lips puckered, but she scooted back and out of reach.

"Ohhh no. Not till you brush your teeth. And drink the rest of that," she pointed to the jug.

He grumbled and picked up the water jug as she moved even further out of his reach. The offer to jump in the tub with him was more tempting than she let on... But, he was still very sick.

* * *

** Day 60 **

Shego looked up from her book as Drakken yawned. She watched him stretch and roll over to look at her, tossing the blankets back.

"So what's it gonna be today? Back on the road to recovery, or another relapse?"

The day after his apparent resurgence of strength he'd suddenly had an attack of fever more vicious than the disease had been with him so far. He had trembled under his blankets even after taking medicine to combat the fever, and she stayed awake all night trying to cool him down with ice pack after ice pack and waking him up to drink more water as he sweated all his fluids away.

She had recalled the way her own fever came and went, and it was a sobering reminder that sometimes disease kills like a thief in the night—without warning. She hadn't lowered her guard for a moment since then and set her own feelings aside as she cared for him. Survival was the first priority. She could worry about her desperate new feelings for him later.

A day and a half later things had started to look up again, and so Shego was back to passing the time with reading and watching him sleep. Usually when he woke up he did nothing, or complained. Actually getting up on his own was hopefully a good sign.

"Um...I feel better, I think," he replied, just before coughing into his pillow.

"Yeah... Well, I'll get you some water and then you're going back to sleep. Don't want to overtax whatever remnant of an immune response you do have," she said as she set her book down and started toward the door.

Drakken pushed himself up to lean on his side and re-adjusted the blankets. "Shego... Can you also bring me my notes, and my laptop computer...oh, and those Petri dishes I was working with."

Shego blinked at him through narrowed eyes. "Are you kidding? You could have mutated something worse than the disease in one of those things. I should burn the whole lab down!"

"No! I need my notes!" he cried desperately.

"No way, everything in there is contaminated. What do you want them for anyway?"

"To continue my work," he pleaded.

"Doc...news flash. You can't cure a virus. I've been doing a little research myself," she said, pointing to the book on her chair. He glanced at the title of the medical text before turning back to her.

"But I could still create a vaccine."

"To help prevent it in other people?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"That's awfully... _nice_ of you, Mr. Evil Mad Scientist."

Drakken frowned. "How many people have died so far?"

Shego shuffled her feet slightly and glanced away. "Just over 3,000."

Drakken pushed himself upright. "Do you remember my projections? If the growth continues at this rate..." he paused, and she watched him do some mental calculations, "almost 100,000 people could be dead by next month."

Shego shuffled her feet again. "Yeah..."

"Just bring me my notes?"

"No way. The lab has to be disinfected. But..." she said as he looked at her in devastation, "...do we still have hazmat suits?"

He leaned back on his side and nodded as he began to cough.

"I'll take pictures of everything for you, okay? And you can...load them on my laptop and do something with that."

Drakken lay down with a sigh. "Okay..."

* * *

After delivering his water, Shego had found a spare hazmat suit down in the henchmen's quarters. The regular hazmat suits were, of course, in the lab. She also discovered that Drakken had ordered the henchmen to self-quarantine back while she was still on vacation, so they were all thankfully unharmed and safe in their quarters.

She wondered at herself, that she hadn't given the henchmen a single thought in the days Drakken had been ill.

She found the lab eerie without Drakken there humming or grumbling as he worked, but she dutifully took pictures of everything he had been working on, including the images still flashing on the computer screen.

The Petri dishes had indeed grown cultures like she suspected. She gave each of them a longer look than she had given the notes. There were two labeled with their names, which she knew were his initial tests to see if they had been infected. Then there were dishes labeled AVD-1 through AVD-4, and then others starting at V-1 with numbers increasing through eleven. She had no idea what they were, but she took photos of them as they were and then put each under his microscope and took magnified photos—a task that turned her stomach as much as the morning sickness did.

She hurried out of the lab as quickly as she could and discarded the hazmat suit. She really should just set fire to all of it... But, maybe it would in fact help Drakken come up with something.

She didn't actually want people to die from the disease. She still couldn't think about Señor Senior Sr. for even the briefest moment without feeling heartsick. She really needed to call Junior again, now that she was thinking about it. She had been so focused on keeping Drakken alive that she had forgotten about everything and everyone else.

After getting her laptop from her room, she brought it and the camera back into his and set them both on the bed next to him. He was sitting up and sipping his water while watching the news.

"Feeling better?" she asked a bit apprehensively. The last time she had asked, he'd relapsed within hours.

"I think so," he said, setting the water down and grabbing the laptop.

"I need to make a phone call. I'll be right back," she said, leaving him blinking after her curiously.

* * *

 _"Shego?"_ Junior's voice came through the phone.

"Hey...how are you holding up?" she asked, sitting on the sofa and holding the phone firmly against her ear.

_"Why are you calling?"_

Shego blinked in surprise. "To see how you're doing," she repeated.

 _"You ignore me for days after my beloved father's death and only now do you care to 'see how I am doing'?"_ he snapped at her.

Shego leaned forward anxiously. "Hey, I had my own problems. Drakken still isn't out of the woods, and I'm—" She stopped short of saying she was pregnant, but she wasn't quite sure why.

_"Oh! ...You mean Drakken has the horrible disease as well?"_

"Yes."

_"Oh, please forgive me. My heart is still aching so much in missing my poor father!"_

"I'm sorry... Do you need anything?" she asked.

_"Do I ever! Oh Shego, it is awful! So many of Father's associates have succumbed."_

"What?" she asked, feeling suddenly queasy.

_"Yes! He employed so many people and had so many friends who were of a mature age. They are all dropping like flies! And I do not know how to, shall we say...run the business. He stopped training me to take over for him after he started training me in villainy."_

Shego leaned back and smacked herself in the forehead. Of course Senior wouldn't have... Her eyes flew open as it hit her again that Senior was dead. The turning of her stomach increased.

"Well...um. There are professionals who do that sort of thing, you know?"

_"But they will all be jealous of my millions! How can I trust any of them?"_

"Good point..." Shego said. But she didn't know anyone trustworthy either. "Um... I'll think about it. And if I think of something I'll call you."

_"Thank you Shego. You will give my hopes for recovery to Drakken?"_

"Yeah. Thanks."

_"Oh wouldn't that be awful, if we were both to lose the ones who are dearest to us?"_

"Yeah."

_"I hope it does not happen to you."_

* * *

Shego returned to Drakken's room and found him frowning over the laptop, which had the camera plugged into it.

"Most of these aren't usable anymore..." he grumbled.

Shego sat down on the bed and shifted over to be near enough to see the laptop, but then she lay down and set a hand over her stomach.

Drakken looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Feeling all right?"

She shook her head. "No."

"It's...um...morning sickness?" he asked.

"Mm," she said with a nod.

She watched him peripherally as he stared at her, his frown softening and quickly morphing into a thoughtful gaze.

She looked up at him, and when his eyes met hers he blushed and looked away, his frown returning. She found her cheeks coloring slightly too, but the nausea kept away any thoughts that might have led to more embarrassment. He looked like he wanted to say something, but she knew the way he was chewing his lip meant he wouldn't.

"I don't think I told you..." she said, keeping her eyes on him. "Señor Senior Sr. caught the disease."

"You did tell me."

"He...he died twelve days ago."

Drakken looked at her with wide eyes. "What?"

"Yeah. Junior's pretty... Well, you know."

Drakken coughed into his elbow, and Shego watched him worriedly. She wondered what Senior's last days had been like... Had they been spent in half-delirious fever like Drakken had experienced? Had Junior stayed by his father's side to tend him?

How many others had died in a similar fashion, with their loved ones by their side?

How many had died alone?

"So you're gonna...create a vaccine to stop the spread of this thing?" she asked, rolling toward Drakken who had refocused on the computer with a frown.

"Mm...or this..."

She peered at the screen and at the columns of data that meant absolutely nothing to her.

"My degree is in Child Development. Little help?"

One corner of Drakken's mouth turned down. "It might be possible to create an antiviral drug... It's not as effective as a vaccine."

"Does it stop it?"

"Not really. It prevents its reproduction."

He sighed and set the laptop aside as he coughed and slid down lower into the bed. She looked at his troubled expression.

"What?" she asked.

He looked up at her a bit hesitantly. "I'm hungry."

She sighed and sat up. "Well, that's a good sign... But, bad news—we're out of food."

Drakken grimaced. "I was afraid of that."

Shego sighed again and glanced around the room, which had become very familiar to her in the last several days. Drakken coughed heavily into his pillow and Shego set a hand on his arm sympathetically. When he finished he turned to face her.

"It will be better if...you go now, rather than later."

Shego's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"To get more food... Before the spread of the virus gets worse."

Shego crossed her arms. "I'm not leaving you," she scoffed.

"We have to eat... And the henchmen have to eat."

Shego frowned and looked down at her knees.

"I'll make a list," Drakken said, scooting up and grabbing her laptop again.

"I'm not leaving you," Shego repeated.

"We have to eat," Drakken frowned back at her. "But...make sure you wear a respirator."

Shego sighed and moved closer to him as he typed up the shopping list. She wanted to argue with him more, but... She was hungry too.

* * *

Shego parked the hover-car behind the Smarty Mart and then put on the respirator mask Drakken had insisted she wear. She had argued that she was smart enough not to cough on anyone, but he reminded her that no one had coughed on her before she was infected. So she agreed. And the mask was more about preventing her from infecting others, than anything.

Feeling ridiculous, she hurried along the back of the building and started around the corner toward the front to get a shopping cart—and then her eyes widened. There was a line stretching from the front of the building around the entire side, and then curving in a U-shape around the parking lot. Most of the people already had their carts, and about half were wearing some form of mask like she was.

She brushed her hair back self-consciously and jogged over to the back of the line and decided she had made the right decision to dress casually instead of in her suit. As she joined the line she noticed that atypically, people were standing awkwardly far away from others. It made the line appear longer than it was.

The sun was hot that day, and very soon she found herself sweating and holding her hair up to let her back and neck breathe. Finally, she pulled a pen out of her purse and used it to pin her hair up into a massive bun. She grabbed her phone and dialed Drakken's number.

_"Shego? What's wrong?"_

She sighed in relief. "Nothing...it's just...this line at Smarty Mart is ridiculously long."

_"Oh...people are probably panic-buying."_

Shego considered for a moment. Would that mean there wouldn't be any food? At Smarty Mart?

"So...if they don't have everything on the list, what do I get?"

_"Best substitute. Or go someplace else."_

She heard him cough and she gripped the phone more tightly.

"How are you feeling?"

_"Not dead yet," he replied. She could almost hear him smirking._

She opened her mouth to make a sarcastic retort about him only being alive because of her, but she couldn't do it.

"I'll call you again after I'm done."

_"You don't have to," he said._

"I'll call you," she said, hanging up.

The line was moving quickly, to her great relief. As she got closer and saw the full carts of people leaving she began to worry that there may not in fact be enough food for everyone waiting. Especially since it was still early morning. What about the people who went shopping later in the day?

A quick burst from a police siren sent her hands and those of the people around her up to cover their ears. She and the others turned as a police car slowly drove up, and they all stepped back to allow the car to pass. She watched it as it drove toward the back of the building where she had parked the hover-car.

She felt a frustrated growl rising in her chest, and she turned to an older woman standing behind her.

"Can you hold my spot? I sort of parked illegally back there," she said and pointed after the vanishing police car.

The woman—who Shego thought looked far too old to be out shopping at all, let alone without a respirator—smiled at her a bit uncertainly.

"Go on ahead," she said.

"Thanks."

Shego tried to look casual as she jogged in the direction the car had gone. It would be her luck to have to deal with the police on a day she was actually out for legitimate reasons.

She rounded the corner and then stopped. The police car hadn't gone all the way to the hover-car, but had stopped next to a dumpster. An orange-vested Smarty Mart employee was there pointing at something on the ground with his blue-gloved finger, and the police officer was approaching. Shego noticed the officer wore a respirator similar to hers.

She watched as the officer nudged something with his foot. Shego narrowed her eyes and realized...it was a person lying on the ground. Probably homeless. The officer stepped back and began speaking into his radio. His eyes lifted and he saw Shego. She started to back away.

"Ma'am!" the officer said, walking toward her briskly as the Smarty Mart employee lingered near the police car.

Shego debated running, or complying. The need for groceries was dire, so...she decided on compliance. She could still take out both men if she needed to.

"Sorry, I just got turned around," she said innocently through her respirator.

"This area is off limits to the public," the officer said. "Go back around to the front of the store."

Shego could see the hover-car peripherally.

"Um...is that man okay?" she asked, stalling.

"A woman actually. No... She's dead."

Shego felt a little sick at the thought.

"Do you think it was the disease?"

"Probably just exposure. And starvation, with everything closing," the officer said sadly. "But we have to investigate regardless."

Shego wondered what he meant about 'everything closing,' but chose not to ask. She didn't need to draw more attention to herself. But apparently she already had as the officer began to look guarded.

"Did you need help with something?"

Shego mentally rolled her eyes. "I just need to move my car. I parked over there," she pointed. And if the police were about to come in with a forensics team, she really did need to move the car.

Shego saw the officer glance at the hover-car, and then do a double take and look back at her with wide eyes.

"So...yeah, see ya," she said as she sprinted toward the car. She didn't look back as the officer shouted at her and hoped that with the epidemic, the police wouldn't bother with a villain out grocery shopping.

She leapt into the hover-car and once it was in gear, flew it around the side of the building and out of sight. Then she quickly moved it up and parked it on the roof. At least there...it was less likely to be noticed.

* * *

When Shego returned to the line, the older woman she had been in front of was nearly to the door.

"Thanks!" she said to the woman gratefully as she wiped the sweat off her brow with the back of her sleeve.

The woman smiled a bit uneasily. "You're welcome."

As Shego grabbed a cart and pushed it inside the store, she saw that each person was stopping at a station that had been set up where wet wipes were being given to each shopper. When it was her turn she accepted the damp cloth with a quiet 'Thank you' and quickly pushed the cart into the loud, crowded store.

She used the wet wipe to clean the handles of the cart and frowned at herself. There wasn't any reason to panic... People were overreacting.

As she lifted her eyes to the store, she began to wonder if she was wrong. Ahead of her people were crowding and pushing their way past four employees who were standing in front of an aisle labeled 'bottled water.' To Shego's right were two women at the checkout pulling back and forth on a package of toilet paper.

 _'Toilet paper?'_ Shego thought incredulously. _'Do we need toilet paper?'_ She looked at Drakken's list. They did.

She pushed her cart around to the side of the aisles where there were fewer people and started looking for all of the things on Drakken's list. She very quickly realized that even if there wasn't a reason to panic...people clearly were.

Most of the shelves were near-empty. She was thankfully able to find every perishable food item and ingredient Drakken had listed, but there were no frozen foods whatsoever left in the store. Signs hung above their shelves instructing 'one item per customer' which caused Shego's brow to rise.

The aisle with paper products was also completely bare, and Shego wandered through it wondering if they could order toilet paper over the Internet somehow. When she got to the aisle with vitamins and minerals she nearly started laughing. It was fully stocked.

She gathered up all of the things Drakken had listed and realized as she looked at the rapidly-filling cart that there were many things he had listed that they didn't usually buy. She wondered if it was for their health, or for experiments.

She also realized that the henchmen might have to leave the lair and try to find some things on their own. Such as toilet paper.

"Ugh, I never shop for the henchmen..." she muttered as she continued trying to find things on the list. Household cleaners were next, but that aisle was completely empty as well.

She sighed and headed to the checkout. Maybe she should try other stores for the things Smarty Mart didn't have...

Joining the long line to pay, she was surprised to find the elderly woman who had been behind her outside now directly ahead of her. Her cart was nearly empty and Shego realized that she probably wasn't out panic-buying, but just doing her regular shopping. Shego watched with a raised brow as the woman dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief. When she moved to replace the handkerchief in her purse, she turned slightly and saw Shego.

"Oh. It's you."

Shego grinned weakly and took a step back. Less because she didn't want to talk to the woman, she realized, and more because she suddenly had alarms screaming 'high risk' in her head.

"Did you find everything you needed?" the woman asked.

"No," she said through her respirator mask. "You?"

"No," the woman said and glanced at Shego's full cart compared to her own lightly stacked one.

"I'm shopping for a lot of people," Shego explained.

"Big family?"

"Uh...yeah."

The woman coughed once into her elbow and Shego took another step back.

"My daughter just called me. Her wedding was supposed to be this weekend, but it has to be postponed."

"Oh...why?" Shego asked, mentally kicking herself for engaging. Why was she engaging?

"The church cancelled on us. They don't know when they can reschedule. I can't believe even the church closed its doors..."

"Oh... Well...are you getting your money back?"

The woman shook her head. "Ashley didn't say."

"Well...I'm sure you will. It would be insane to make you pay when they're the ones who cancelled."

"It's not that..." the woman sniffled. "It's just that Ashley and Joey have been waiting so long... Now they'll have to wait longer."

Shego thought of Drakken and their newfound love, and the cold reality that the disease might still separate them. She took another step back from the woman as she suddenly realized...she shouldn't have left the lair at all. She was far too contagious, the way Drakken was still coughing. She glanced in her cart for the wet wipe the employees had given her at the entrance, but it must have fallen out somewhere.

A commotion ahead of them in the line suddenly drew their attention. A middle-aged woman was yelling at the teenage cashier as the younger girl explained that only one package of toilet paper was allowed, removing the second from the yelling woman's cart. The irate customer then grabbed a package of gum off the nearby rack and threw it point-blank at the teenager's face.

An older, male cashier from the next lane quickly stepped over to deal with the situation as the poor teenage cashier stood looking shell-shocked, and rubbing the reddening spot on her face where the gum had hit.

The elderly woman in front of Shego had her mouth hanging open and was shaking her head in disbelief. Shego cleared her throat and got the woman's attention again.

"Well...your daughter, her fiance... They're healthy, right?" she fairly stammered as she stepped further back to give the woman a safer distance.

The woman smiled. "Yes, thank God."

Shego felt something grip her chest. She still had no guarantee about Drakken. "Then...they'll have forever."

* * *

When Shego left the store with several bags over her arms she followed the crowd absentmindedly, lost in thought. Assuming all would end well...what might 'forever' look like for she and Drakken?

The person walking in front of her stopped short, and she just barely avoided bumping into them as she held tighter to her bags and looked up. She quickly followed the gaze of the other shoppers and found what had drawn their attention. Police tape was blocking off the entire side of the building where the long line had been, restricting access as they investigated the death of the homeless woman.

Shego turned around and hurried to the other side of the building and toward the hover-car.

* * *

Four hours and six phone calls to Drakken later—her phone battery had died during her attempt to make a seventh call—Shego returned to the lair exhausted. She had only found a few of the other items on the shopping list at the other stores she checked, and she'd finally given up in futility.

When she'd tried to eat out for lunch she learned what the police officer meant by everything closing; businesses were shutting down left and right with the exception of grocery stores and hospitals and a few 'non-essential' hold-outs. She had flown the hover-car lower than she usually would, staring in fascination at the abandoned highways. It was like something out of an apocalyptic movie. And as she had flown over the darkened neon signs of Cow & Chow and Bueno Nacho, she wondered where the poor would get their meals.

After putting away the groceries and other things, she tiredly made her way back to Drakken's room. She found him asleep with the TV on and the laptop sitting open on the chair she usually occupied.

She yanked off her respirator and crawled across the bed, laying down about a foot away from him. He opened his eyes slightly, peered at her sleepily, and then began coughing. She reached across the bed and found his hand, gripping it tightly. He offered her a weak smile once the coughs had subsided and his eyes fell closed. It was only minutes before she was asleep, too.

* * *

** Day 65 **

Drakken's fever was lower. He was sitting in her usual chair working on her laptop as she remade the bed with clean sheets. The routine she had fallen into during his illness was somehow relaxing, she thought, as she tucked the sheet corners under the heavy mattress. Probably because it meant he was still alive.

She had gone out twice more in the past few days—with the respirator and wearing sterile gloves—and blessedly found one tiny package of toilet paper at a mom-and-pop type of store on one of the smaller islands. But all of the electrolyte-laden drinks were sold out everywhere, as was the water and all non-perishable food items.

She had learned from the TV that they were actually in something of a hot spot for the epidemic, and that other areas were likely to follow their example soon and shut down non-essential businesses. Various countries were starting to restrict entrance to foreigners from the specified hot zones, which she found interesting—an 'every man for themselves' mentality. She couldn't decide if it was wise, or just a bit evil.

Drakken told her that morning that the world economy was going to crash, and they had argued for a while about whether it was a big deal or not. He insisted it was, but she was of the mind that when the epidemic was over that businesses would need to hire their employees back in order to survive. It might be annoying for awhile, but not dire.

He reminded her that the rest of the world wasn't as financially secure as two super-villains were.

The argument had ended when Drakken broke into a coughing fit, and once the shaking of his frame had abated she'd shooed him into the chair so she could change the bedding. As she watched him alternate between frowning at whatever was on her laptop and the statistics on the TV screen, something else occurred to her.

"Hey...Doc?"

"Mm?" he glanced up and then coughed into his elbow. She waited until the fit had passed.

"Is there any research yet about...what the disease does to pregnant women?"

Drakken's frown deepened. "No."

Shego looked away as she stuffed a pillow into a clean case so he couldn't see her worried expression.

"I need to get into the lab..." he muttered.

"Oh no," she whirled around. "Not until it's been disinfected. You were definitely mutating something horrible in there."

"Trying to find a cure..." he argued quietly.

She looked at his darkened expression and felt a wave of nausea. She set a hand on her stomach. The morning sickness wasn't quite as bad as it had first been.

She sighed. "The stores are still out of cleaning products, but...I could burn it," she offered. "Clean it that way."

Drakken shook his head. "Too much equipment would be damaged. "I'll think of something..."

Shego smoothed out the blankets on the clean bed and Drakken's brow rose in longing. He shakily set the laptop on the bed and started to stand.

"Nope, not yet," Shego said, hurrying to his side. "Bath, and clean jammies first."

Drakken groaned and let her push him toward the bathroom.

"I'm going to wash all of the immunity off of my epidermis and I'll die from...from an infection in a paper cut."

"Shut up. Now get started while I disinfect the laptop."

"Shego..." Drakken whined.

* * *

** Day 71 **

_"...And the World Health Organization has officially declared the virus to be a pandemic, as the death toll has risen above 4,000,"_ the newscaster on the TV said.

Shego and Drakken were sitting up side-by-side in his bed, she with her head leaned back on the headboard and barely paying attention while he watched the TV with interest.

"About time..." Drakken muttered.

Shego merely grimaced as she held her stomach, the nausea having returned with a vengeance the day prior and not showing any signs of improvement. In contrast, Drakken's fever had lowered significantly and he was able to sit awake for several hours at time. She had even noticed him get up and walk to the bathroom without looking like he was going to fall over.

The news briefing ended and a familiar commercial appeared on the TV. Both Shego and Drakken groaned at the sight of a teary-eyed Camille Leon holding her hairless cat.

"Not again..." Shego complained.

_"This is for anyone who is listening. I hardly need an introduction, but I am Camille Leon, and I am pleading with you on behalf of my father, Brooks Leon who is lost and out of contact in..."_

Shego closed her eyes and tuned out the annoying voice of the heiress. She had already seen the commercial too many times. Apparently her father had been on a trip to the country where the virus had originated before it was worldwide knowledge. But he never came back, and she had yet to hear from him. Not even when the country shipped all of its foreigners back to their homelands. The cat food tycoon had simply vanished without a trace.

Shego ignored the emotional voice on the TV and rolled away from Drakken as the nausea intensified.

"I'm going to the restroom," she murmured as she stumbled off of the bed. Throwing up on him would absolutely not help either of their situations.

"We're out of toilet paper," he called after her through a cough.

"Figures..."

* * *

** Day 74 **

"The henchmen are getting restless," Shego said as she paced the room.

Drakken watched her calculatingly from behind the laptop.

"Tell them they can leave at their own risk. I'm paying them anyway."

"What?" Shego said, stopping and turning on him with hands on her hips.

"I'm still paying you too," Drakken said with a frown.

Shego's brow rose. "Oh..."

She suddenly felt an odd twist in her stomach that had nothing to do with morning sickness. They were lovers, and he was still paying her as his side-kick... Something about it didn't feel right.

She shook her head. "Okay. I'll tell them."

"They still can't come up here, though. Phone calls only."

"Right..." Shego said, pacing again and looking around for her phone. She saw it on the floor next to the bed, apparently having fallen. When she picked it up she discovered the battery had died. With a grimace she plugged it in and placed it on the chair by the bed. When she sat with Drakken, she mostly sat on the bed with him now.

_"...has ordered the closures of all restaurants, bars, and gyms across the country..."_

"Grr..." Drakken growled at the newscast, gripping his blanket between his hands and twisting it. The laptop slid off his lap onto the mattress.

"What?" Shego asked.

He suddenly looked nervous as she stared at him, and his twisting of the blanket increased. Shego glanced at the TV.

"Why does that matter?"

Drakken seemed to go back and forth in his head, getting more frustrated by the moment until he threw his hands up with a huge outburst of, "Fine!"

Shego stepped to the foot of the bed to face him.

Drakken frowned and grumbled something as he yanked at the blanket.

"Dr. D.?" She set her hands on her hips.

He gave her a sideways glance. "I was going to take over the world with...toys in kids' meals that transformed into destructive robots, all right? But if the fast food restaurants are closed...I'll have to wait a year or two... Rrgh, I wanted to rule the world by the end of _this_ year..."

Shego's brow rose as she looked at his disgusted frown and then laughter started bubbling up in her throat. His eyes widened upon hearing her and he turned to her with a scowl as she burst into loud laughter.

"Shego!" he said reprimandingly.

"I'm sorry, it's just..." she broke off as her belly shook with chuckles, "that's the dumbest plan I've ever heard!"

"Nyeh...ngh...it will work! Just as soon as I've stolen the technology from Japan, and from the Middleton Space Center..."

Shego lay down on the bed as her laughter continued, the action unfortunately adding to her nausea. But she realized very quickly...it was really nice to laugh again.

"Does it have something to do with that secret subterranean expansion to the lair you've been working on?" she asked after a moment.

Drakken recoiled in surprise. "How do you know about that?"

Shego rolled over onto her stomach and smirked at him, kicking her feet playfully. "I open your mail, doy."

Drakken's jaw fell open in shock. "You read my mail!? Shego!"

She lay down again as he yelled at her, relishing in the familiar strength of his voice and laughing until her sides ached.

* * *

** Day 79 **

Shego was preparing for another hunt across the various islands' stores early that morning, hoping to find something useful before everything got picked over. Drakken's fever had risen again, though thankfully not to nightmarish levels. He was watching her through tired eyes as she put her boots on at the vanity across the moat.

"Have you seen my cell phone?" she asked after her boot was zipped up, and she checked the security of her braided hair once more.

"You forgot to charge it again," Drakken croaked and pointed next to her laptop on the chair by the bed. It was also plugged in and charging, with the phone right next to it.

"Oh. Thanks," she said as she unplugged the phone and checked it. Only one bar of battery. She flipped it closed and put it in her purse. "I'll be back soon."

"Don't call me every ten minutes," Drakken said in annoyance just before coughing into his pillow.

"Fine..." she said, rolling her eyes as she left the room and headed for the hover-car.

It was true, he was definitely getting better. His fever hadn't risen again to the terrifying level of that horrible first week nor had he struggled to breathe since coming down from that height. She just wished his fever would stay down permanently. Her own hadn't returned.

She still planned on wearing the respirator and gloves while in public, however. She grudgingly knew it was the responsible thing to do. And accidentally killing off the world's population wasn't the same as deliberately threatening people with a bio-weapon.

Sadly it seemed, taking over the world was going to be put on hold for quite some time.

After a very boring hover-car ride, Shego found herself back at Smarty Mart. The line was still long, and the carts were still coming out over-stuffed. While she waited she saw many people exiting with giant packages of toilet paper and paper towels and was hopeful there would be some left by the time she made it inside. The store had only been open for thirty minutes.

When she finally got inside she made a beeline for the section she knew held the paper products. People were pushing carts past her in the opposite direction, their own carts full of the telltale packaging. When Shego reached the aisle she maneuvered her cart past the slower-moving customers until she reached the stack of paper towels guarded by three orange vest-wearing employees.

"Paper towels?" one of the women asked her.

"...Sure," Shego answered from behind her respirator as the woman put the oversized package into her cart. "Um, is there any toilet paper left?"

"No I'm sorry, we're out."

Shego glanced at the carts of customers who had arrived earlier that held the desired product. She looked back at the paper towels.

"Are people allowed more than one?"

"Of this brand, yes," the woman said. "Would you like another?"

"Yes please," Shego said, trying to make her eyes smile. But inside she was starting to consider knocking out one of the other customers and taking their toilet paper... It was less that she was worried about actually getting some—first world problem, she had scolded Drakken when he whined about it—and more that the panic-buying was frustrating her. If people would only buy products like usual, there wouldn't be shortages of anything!

With the second giant package of paper towels in her cart, she pushed her way out of the aisle and started heading towards the frozen foods section. Even though Drakken enjoyed cooking, he did have a favorite microwavable pot pie. It was nostalgic from his childhood, he had told her when she questioned its presence on the shopping list; something his mother used to give him when he was sick. Frozen foods were usually for her.

She pushed the cart up and down the aisles briskly, passing those who were loitering and staring at the meager offerings. His pot pie wasn't there. Her own preferred meals weren't there. The only products left were the cheap ones that nobody wanted on their best or worst day. Except...

The refrigerator still had milk! She left the cart and moved through the crowd around the fridge to pull out two jugs, and then scowled as she saw the 'Limit of One' sign. It was cheap milk too, not the kind Drakken preferred for his...cocoa-moo. But she took one jug anyway and brought it back to her cart.

She pushed the cart out to the perimeter of the massive warehouse-store to avoid the crowds and hurried her way to the front to check out. She didn't feel like even looking for anything else on the list... She knew it wouldn't be there.

As she passed the fully-stocked vitamin aisle she paused. There was a small woman in the aisle who had toilet paper in her cart, and she was alone. Shego considered... Was it worth it?

At that moment, a clattering sound reached her ears just as she felt the ground beneath her feet begin to shift.

 _'Earthquake!?'_ she realized in a split second as vitamin bottles started falling from the shelves and rolling across the floor. It was only a moment before she heard screams and saw people running out of the aisles and toward the safety of the wide-open center of the store. The woman she had been sizing up grabbed the toilet paper out of her cart and hugged it to her before she ran as well.

"Oh for crying out loud!" Shego exclaimed as she pushed her cart after everyone else with a frown. The ground had stopped shaking already, and she figured the quake had lasted all of three seconds _if_ that. But the screams were getting louder.

"It's the end of the world!" a man's voice shouted above the anxious chatter that had filled the store, and Shego watched as a tired and scruffy-looking man with wild eyes ran through the crowd with his hands in the air and headed for the door.

Shego rolled her eyes and shook her head at the display and looked through the crowd for the woman with the toilet paper. The earthquake was a good distraction for a little petty theft...

She spotted the slight woman who had run up to a taller man and set her over-sized toilet paper package in his cart. Shego left her own cart and started toward them at a brisk pace.

"Joel, where are the kids!?" the woman said frantically. Shego stopped short.

"I let them go down the candy aisle," the man said, pointing away behind him with wide eyes. The woman ran past him and he followed a second later, leaving the cart behind.

"Callie!" Shego heard the man call.

Shego started forward again as the couple disappeared, and then she felt a wave of nausea hit her. She set a hand low on her stomach and looked down, her brow slowly furrowing. After a long moment she grit her teeth and growled.

"Troublemaker!" she addressed her abdomen and strode forward next to the full shopping cart with the toilet paper prize sitting on top. She sighed as she resigned herself to guarding it all until the family returned, frowning all the while as she thought about the tiny life growing inside her and how she wouldn't want anyone stealing from it.

A few short minutes later a familiar voice gasped a startled "Oh!" from behind her. She turned around to see the man and woman with a little girl of about ten and a boy of maybe five holding their hands.

Shego pushed herself up from where she'd leaned on the full cart.

"I was guarding it for you. Toilet paper, you know?" she said mirthlessly.

"Oh...thank you," the man said, exchanging a skeptical look with his wife.

"Yeah, well..." Shego was too annoyed with herself to come up with anything else and just shrugged as she turned to walk away. The sudden moral debate her heart was waging was far more irritating than anything else she had dealt with that morning.

The yelling and chatter about the earthquake had died down, she realized, as she picked her way through the maze of toppled bottles and a few spills back to where she had left her cart. None of it had been warranted, in her opinion. Just like the panic-buying.

When she lifted her eyes from the messy floor to her cart her jaw fell open. It was empty, her paper towels and milk having been pilfered while she was away doing a good deed.

"Rrrghh!" she snarled, yanking off her sterile gloves as her hands flared brightly in her anger. As she was deciding whether or not to cause some destruction worthy of real panic, a strong wave of nausea hit her. She let her glow die out as she set one hand on her abdomen and the other over her eyes that she found were beginning to prickle with a hint of tears.

"I just want to wake up," she said into the darkness she had created. "Please tell me it's just a long nightmare and I can wake up now."

She brought her hand down to her turning stomach and blinked in the fluorescent light of the store. All that was before her were the burned gloves in the empty cart.

* * *

Shego left the Smarty Mart empty-handed and strode bitterly toward where she had parked the hover-car, out in the open this time. She figured no one cared anymore at this point. She didn't either. What did toilet paper matter in the grand scheme of things anyway...

She set her hand on her stomach again as it rolled, and she slowed her pace. She stopped suddenly as she caught sight of a small crowd—not obeying the 'social distancing' order, she thought with an ironic smirk—gathered around the exact spot where she had parked. And then she noticed the white steam rising from behind them.

She broke into a run and then saw...another car had crashed into the hover-car. The crumpled hood of the SUV was the source of the steam.

"Hey!" she shouted, and the crowd parted for her. She yanked her respirator off and dropped it as she stared at the wreck in fury. There was no way the hover-car would fly... The SUV must have hit it at a really high speed.

During the earthquake, she wondered?

Just then the SUV door opened and a man staggered out. Shego's brow shot up. It was the scruffy man who had run out of the store screaming about the end of the world.

"No..." was all that fell from Shego's lips as she felt herself starting toward him. She was aware of her hands igniting but she hadn't realized she'd shot at the man until she heard him yelp and saw the green hit his chest and then fizzle away.

"You _idiot!_ " she shouted as she shot at him again, this time with focus.

The crowd scattered, now screaming for a real reason, she thought, as she steadfastly pursued the man. He had run past the steaming wreckage and was darting through parked cars, glancing over his shoulder in terror every few seconds. Shego broke into a jog as she went after him, saving her fury for when she could get a good, clean shot. She didn't want to kill him, but she wanted him to remember what _real_ fear of 'the end' felt like.

A sudden loud blast from a siren stopped her advance, and she whirled around in the direction of the sound. A police car was pulling up to the scene of the wreck, and an officer wearing a respirator had just gotten out of the car and had drawn his gun and was aiming it towards her. Shego looked at her glowing hands and let the flame die out.

"Since when are they so efficient..." she grumbled as she darted away, still pursuing the fleeing man but with much more purpose since she might need to suddenly dodge bullets.

She heard the shout of the officer behind her but ignored him as she closed in on her prey. When she was only three car-lengths away from him she shot at him with both hands. He cried out and fell against the hood of a nearby car.

Before he could scramble to his feet, Shego was upon him and had picked him up by his shirt front.

"You want to know what the end of the world really feels like?" she snarled.

The man gasped incoherently with his hands waving in front of his face as he stared at her with wide-eyes. And then he suddenly broke into a loud coughing fit and brought his elbow up to cover his mouth.

Shego's own eyes went wide and she dropped him, backing away until she bumped into the car behind her.

"I'm not sick!" the man declared insistently through his coughs.

Shego suddenly felt a dark pain surround her heart. She had just breathed in the man's face...

He continued to cough, and Shego bolted away as her heart began to race. She couldn't go back to Smarty Mart...but she needed another respirator. She furrowed her brow and started thinking of what other store on the island might have them when she stopped short with a sick realization.

The hover-car was damaged. She couldn't get to another store.

Or back to the lair.

She fumbled with the zipper of her purse until she got her fingers inside and grabbed at her cell phone. She pulled it out and flipped it open.

The battery was dead.

* * *

** Day 80 **

Shego shivered in the cold, hugging her knees tighter to her chest as she pressed herself further behind the hedge in the alleyway. She had escaped the police and found the make-shift hiding place in the nearby suburbs less than a quarter-mile from where the pursuit had begun. Thankfully they hadn't sent dogs after her, or else her hiding place wouldn't have been very effective. But each time the officers had passed that way they had overlooked her entirely.

Probably because she was hiding behind an oleander bush.

Her face and hands had started itching almost immediately after she had made contact with the toxic leaves, and it wasn't long before her eyes started to burn too. She had closed her eyes against the pain and due to sitting so still and silent, it wasn't long before she had dozed off.

That was how she had spent the day, waking up on and off, her eyes and skin feeling worse each time and compounded by the pain of the morning sickness and the coughing from the disease, notably stronger due to her being out in the elements. The cough was one of the major reasons she had decided against fleeing further, since it was so violent it halted her pace every time. She had resolved to wait until darkness to move again, considering that she had no way to escape in a hurry and because news of a super-villain loose on the tiny island was probably being broadcast on every local network.

The hover-car was a loss, and she was trapped; every airline had been grounding its domestic flights one by one in attempt to stop the pandemic. Her only hope was to steal a plane, perhaps at a military base. But as she peered up at the starry sky she realized she didn't even know where a military base was. There may not even be one on an island that small.

She wasn't even sure which country she was in.

She coughed at length into her shoulder and shivered. One thing was for sure—the cold was no help against her recovery from the disease. The cough was her strongest remaining symptom, and she wondered how long it would last. Drakken's certainly hadn't gone away.

Her brow twisted in worry as she thought of Drakken. He surely must know something was wrong... Except she had promised not to call him incessantly, and he also knew her phone was almost dead. Maybe he wouldn't assume the worst...

But she hadn't been out all day or into the night even once since he had fallen ill. Surely he would realize...?

But then, Shego thought with worry, she didn't want him coming after her. His recovery was still on a definite roller-coaster.

And how would he find her anyway?

Shivering again in the night air, she started to push herself up...and then sat down again as a throbbing pain spread over her palms. She lifted her hands up and cringed in disgust. Large, smooth, white pustules were dotted over both the front and back of her hands.

Cautiously, she lifted her fingers to her face and felt over her cheek. The flat welts were there too.

She didn't dare touch her eyes, but they already stung and were puffy and weeping. It probably wouldn't matter if she did touch them.

She bounced up to her feet without using her hands and stood up behind the hedge, hugging herself tightly.

"Stupid plant."

She narrowed her eyes at the hedge and considered burning the whole thing down. But then that would restart the search and likely land her in jail.

 _'Might get me into a hospital...'_ she considered. But then she realized, they would test her and find out she carried the virus. And there was no telling when she could get back to Drakken after that.

She pushed through the hedge with a scowl until she was standing in the alleyway, and then raised her hands and looked at them thoughtfully. She ignited her left and bit down on a cry of pain as some of the pustules started bursting from contact with the glow.

"Okay, bad idea..."

She started down the alleyway away from the shopping outlets and deeper into the suburb. She had no destination in mind...but she couldn't just sit behind a toxic bush forever. Maybe she could find a plane at a municipal airport to steal...

After she found an airport.

* * *

Shego's ability to measure the passing of time wasn't great, but she was sure it had been at least a few hours. She sat huddled and shivering on a bench in the second park she had happened across as she had slunk through the suburbs, which proved a more challenging maze than anything she had faced in her life either as hero or villain. As the night wore on she had weighed the various possibilities of breaking into a house, stealing a car, or just walking into a pharmacy and threatening someone into first medicating her, and then taking her to an airport.

But she kept coming back to the fact that on an island so tiny—the closest to the lair—the fact that she hadn't been caught yet was something of a miracle.

Before resting on the bench she had chanced to glimpse her reflection in a duck pond and recoiled at the hideous sight. She looked like something out of a horror film with her clothing dirtied and her braided hair tangled beyond repair. The reaction she had had to the toxic plant left no doubt that she was definitely and decidedly ill. And she still felt guilty about possibly spreading the disease further.

She lay down on the bench, resigned to the probability of arrest and quarantine. She could always just escape later... And they would treat her oleander poisoning, and maybe...maybe be able to tell her if the baby was healthy.

For the first time in her life, arrest was tempting.

The biggest concern she faced with going through what she knew would be a several-day ordeal was being away from Drakken. She still didn't know what country she was in. The laws may not give her a phone call. And if...if he got worse while she was in jail, and she wasn't there...

She curled in on herself as her stomach turned and she shivered again. If she got sicker from exposure, she was no help to Drakken either. Or the baby.

"Nrargh!" she growled in frustration and then broke into a long coughing fit. She didn't know what to do.

* * *

Shego walked into the 24-hour pharmacy and convenience store with her hair pushed forward to cover her face. She kept her head turned down sharply and her stinging hands in her jacket pockets as she walked briskly past the check-out counter.

"Good evening!" the woman working the register called out.

"Good— evening," Shego answered, her words broken by a single cough. She strode quickly to the back and toward the pharmacy counter.

When she arrived she took in what she had to work with. The pharmacy wasn't nearly as secure as some she had seen. It did have a locked sliding glass barrier between the customers and the technician, but she could break it easily if necessary. Getting what she needed would be a piece of cake.

The pharmacy technician—a young woman—appeared to be sorting through the day's receipts and looked very tired. When Shego's shadow fell on her the woman looked up and then gasped in fright.

"Give me something for this," Shego said pointedly. Her vision was slightly blurred since she was looking through an enforced-squint, but she tried to open her eyes wider now she was actually talking to someone. "I fell in an oleander bush."

"Oh that looks terrible! Do you have a prescription?"

"Nope," Shego replied.

The woman's brow furrowed. "Then...I'm sorry...but I can't give you—"

Shego pulled her left hand from her pocket and flared it, gritting her teeth against the pain she was causing herself.

"It's...it's you!" the woman cried. "You're the one they're searching for!"

"Give me something for this," Shego repeated, pointing at her distorted face.

The woman had staggered back in shock, but now swallowed slowly and was stepping up to the counter.

"I know you have a silent alarm. Don't even think about it."

The woman's panic seemed to fade as she raised her chin and frowned.

"You're a criminal."

"And I have the virus."

The woman's eyes widened.

"So give me whatever will take care of this, or I'll start coughing on things."

The woman looked truly frightened for the first time.

"You...you wouldn't!"

"Criminal, remember?" Shego's point was proved as a cough suddenly rose out of her chest. She instinctively raised her elbow to her face, but she smirked at the technician all the while.

When the coughing subsided the technician began warily turning back toward her library of medications.

"And don't even think about trying something. This glass between us can be gone faster than you can blink."

The technician frowned and then looked hesitant.

"Are you allergic to any medications?"

"No," Shego replied. She kept her expression even and her eyes as mirthless as she could, considering the inflammation. But hope started rising in her.

The technician grabbed three bottles from various places on the shelf and put them into a bag.

"What are they?" Shego asked as the technician approached the glass again.

"Antihistamines...and eye drops..."

Shego took a step back as the woman appeared to be waiting for something. She kept her hand flared, alternating between biting the inside of each cheek against the pain she was causing her hand. She noticed that some of the pustules on her palm had started bleeding.

The woman unlocked the glass, slid it open just enough to push the bag through, and then slammed it closed.

Shego coughed into her elbow again, relief flooding her as she stepped back to the counter to grab the bag. And then something else occurred to her. She let the glow around her hand go out and stepped back again.

"Hey...do you have a respirator? I don't...actually want to spread the virus..." she said slowly, letting the steel fade from her eyes.

The technician looked skeptical, but she pointed to a shelf over Shego's shoulder. Shego turned to look...and then whirled around at the sound of sliding glass. The technician had grabbed the bag back and her other hand was beneath the counter, no doubt pressing the silent alarm.

Shego snarled and set both glowing hands against the glass. It melted in moments into a smoldering, blackened pile and Shego felt satisfaction rise in her chest at the terrified look on the young woman's face. She leapt over the counter as the woman tossed the bag and ran for the back room. Shego snatched the bag out of the air as she landed on her feet, and started looking around. While she was there, she figured she may as well grab some heavy-duty painkillers just in case.

Once she had stuffed a few more bottles into the bag, and checked that the woman had in fact given her antihistamines and eye drops, she jumped back over the counter and headed for the shelf with the respirators. She was amazed the store wasn't sold out, unlike Smarty Mart.

As she ripped the package open and put the respirator on, she caught sight of the technician peeking around the corner from inside her formerly-safe haven.

"Remember, I tried to be nice!" Shego growled at her as she ran along the back wall of the store and glanced at the signs hanging above each aisle. She spotted the one that said water and dashed down...only to find the shelves were bare.

She sighed angrily and stood on her toes, peering at the other signs until she found the aisle with new-age drinks. She ran around to that one and felt a longing as she saw those drinks were refrigerated. She grabbed two bottles of the closest thing inside the refrigerator door and then spun around and headed for the exit. She stopped short on seeing the cashier standing in her path with wide, shocked eyes.

"Easy way?" Shego said commandingly, and then shoved her newly-acquired drinks under her arm. "Or the hard way like your friend chose?" She flared her left hand.

The cashier swallowed nervously and backed away into the wall that contained all the technology products. A thought flickered through Shego's mind about stealing a phone charger, but vanished when she realized she had nowhere to plug it in.

She ran past the startled cashier and grabbed a bag of pistachios and some gum that were near the register on her way out. Her arms full, she looked around and then headed behind the store where there was a ten-foot wall built...and in front of it was an oleander hedge.

She clutched all of her acquisitions clumsily against her chest with her left hand as she ran forward, and with help from her right hand vaulted the wall. She didn't have to look to know she had left blood behind. And after she had landed on the ground and blurrily took in the panorama of the vast, empty parking lot of the shopping center...she began to run.

* * *

Shego woke up to a dark, violet canvas in front of her eyes. It was nearly sunrise.

She slowly sat upright in the tall, brown grass of the field she had collapsed in after escaping the city during the night. She blinked and realized that her eyes weren't nearly as swollen as they had been several hours before. The eye drops were working.

She touched her fingers to her cheeks and thought that the pustules there might be less pronounced as well.

She lay down on her side, concealed again by the height of the brown grasses, and squinted to read the label of the antihistamine in the dark. _'Six hours,'_ she was able to make out as the required time between doses. She frowned, and decided it was probably close enough.

She shook a pill out into her scabbing palm and then reached for her second drink. When she had collapsed in the field earlier, feeling fairly certain she wouldn't be discovered, she had first eaten all of the pistachios and then swallowed a pill and chased after it with the whole bottle of the oddly-flavored new-age drink.

Her stomach turned as she swallowed the second pill and only took one large swallow of the second drink before screwing the cap back on. She didn't know how long she would need to make it last, and she deeply regretted drinking the other so quickly.

She lay back in the grass again and stared up at the pre-dawn sky from which stars were beginning to disappear.

She thought about Drakken. She wondered if his fever had gotten worse...

She reached into the bag again and thought about the painkillers she had stolen. Her face, eyes, and especially hands still hurt, as did the rest of her body from the discomfort of the past day and night.

She tiredly squinted at the side of the bottle she had pulled out and searched for the dosage. Then she caught sight of a word, and with a gasp she brought the bottle closer to her face.

_"Do not use if pregnant or trying to become pregnant."_

In a panic she dropped the bottle in the grass and grabbed for the antihistamines and eye drops again. Her throat tightened as she found the relevant text on both bottles.

_"Consult your physician before use if pregnant."_

_'Okay...that's not as bad...'_

Her reassurances to herself weren't doing much to calm her racing heart, and she lay down in the grass again and stared at the vast sky, her brow furrowed in worry.

_'Please let it all be a nightmare...'_

As a wave of nausea hit her, she gripped her stomach with one hand and started to let her mind go blank as she stared up into space. She focused on the rhythm of her breathing, the rise and fall of her belly under her hand, and the warmth of her skin beneath her cold, stinging fingers. At least the coughing wasn't as bad for the moment.

Gradually the anxiety started to wane and she put all of her focus into staring at the few remaining twinkling stars. She adjusted her fist under her neck and despite her efforts to think of absolutely nothing, her mind fell to Drakken again as the color of the sky lightened into the same cool blue shade of his skin.

She had been gone for almost twenty-four hours now. Anything could have happened to him.

Just then, a distant and familiar hum cut through the silence and Shego sat up in disbelief, her eyes scanning the horizon. Sure enough, out of the darker skies in the West she made out the gray of a hover-car ambling through the air above the fields.

She stood up, hugging herself against the cold, and after a few seconds the hover-car increased its speed toward her. She bent down and picked up her pharmacy bag, respirator, and trash in anticipation, eager to jump in the car and just go home.

As the hover-car got closer she could make out a hazmat suit, and her heart sank briefly wondering if Drakken hadn't come after all and had sent a henchman instead, even though the rational side of her knew that would have been the best thing to do.

"Shego!"

Relief crept into her chest at the sound of the familiar voice. The hover-car lowered to the ground and through the visor of the hazmat suit she saw Drakken's disgusted recoil at the sight of her doubtless horror-movie-monster appearance.

"Trust me, I look better than I did yesterday. Let's get out of here," she said hoarsely as she jumped into the car next to him.

The car didn't move, and she turned to find Drakken still staring at her.

"It looks worse than it feels," she said. She held up the pharmacy bag. "See? I got meds."

After shaking his head slightly, he finally put the car back in gear and lifted it up into the warming skies. He drove with a reckless speed that she found calming as she sank down into the seat and closed her eyes.

"What happened?" he finally asked.

Shego took a deep breath and curled into a ball in the seat, keeping her eyes closed. "Well..." she sighed heavily. "It started with an earthquake that everyone felt at Smarty Mart..."

"I know all that. It-it was on the news."

Shego's eyes opened. "It was?" She couldn't see Drakken's face for the hazmat suit as he faced forward to drive.

"They showed the hover-car, and interviewed a man who said you attacked him."

"After he crashed his SUV into the hover-car," Shego growled.

"...They didn't mention that part."

Shego closed her eyes again. "Of course not." She sighed, and when he didn't say anything else she continued. "I hid behind an oleander hedge. You do know oleander is toxic, right?"

She peered at him, but he didn't give any indication one way or the other.

"Well, I didn't realize _how_ toxic. So...after it got dark I raided a pharmacy."

"That was on the news too. They had security footage."

Shego yawned. Her sleep through the night and the previous day's hiding had been far from restful.

"Well...that's about it. I just hid and...tried to think of a way to get back. How did you find me?"

Drakken didn't answer immediately, and Shego frowned and leaned forward to see his face through the visor of his suit.

"Tracking device..." he said quietly.

Shego's brow rose. "You...you have me chipped!?"

He glanced at her and she saw the fear in his eyes, and the confirmation. He increased the speed of the hover-car.

 _'Yeah he'd_ better _be scared...'_

"Since when!?" she yelled, instantly regretting it for the pain in her throat.

"Ah...since...I don't know," he grumbled in frustration. "After you quit that one time."

Her eyes widened and she rose up on her knees over him. "You've had me chipped since...since the very beginning!?"

He tried to smile nervously, but what came across his face was a grimace of something between fear and regret.

"I...knew it would come in handy some day?" he said meekly.

Shego ignited her hands into massive flaming balls that reflected green light in the panels of the hover-car. It startled him and the hover-car swerved for a moment, sending her off-balance and back against the car's seat.

"Do you have any idea what an invasion of privacy that—"

She broke off as a painful cough racked her chest, and she curled in on herself as the rolling of her stomach intensified with the spasms of her chest and back.

"...Shego?" Drakken said worriedly.

She glared at him even though he couldn't see it. As soon as they were both healthy again...she would kill him. Or at least nearly. Or do something worse like put embarrassing pictures of him on the Internet...

"So, um..." he cleared his throat, "about this earthquake..."

"...What about it?" Shego asked from behind a frown.

"The epicenter was near the lair. It caused a bit of damage..." he said hesitantly.

"Oh?" Shego said, suddenly feeling suspicious again at his wary tone.

"Yes..." He paused to cough, and Shego's anger started to be replaced with worry. How long had he been up and around, she wondered? "It— damaged the ventilation system."

Shego's mind processed far too slowly for her taste as he coughed before she finally understood the implication.

"The lab?"

"But it's okay!" he said as soon as the coughing subsided, finally turning to look at her. She saw the reassurance in his eyes. "I had to go in anyway to...use the computer's tracker."

Shego frowned again.

"And I checked all of the samples while I was there. I didn't...mutate anything horrible."

Shego crossed her arms and sank low in the seat beneath the whipping of the wind. "How do you know?" she asked skeptically. "This entire disease is new."

"Oh it was simple. I just examined each sample for any mutation from the control sample."

Shego frowned at him again before closing her swollen, itching eyes. She was still hoping it would all turn out to be a nightmare. "You're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. But...because of the ventilation damage, I sent the henchmen away. The exposure to the lab won't hurt us, but...none of them have gotten sick yet."

Shego shrugged. "Not like they were doing anything, anyway..."

She opened her eyes again and to look at him, and her gaze passed over the pharmacy bag. Her worry about the antihistamines suddenly returned in full.

"Actually Doc...since the lab is open, I need you to test something."

* * *

** Day 82 **

_"...Top analysts are in disagreement over the long-term implications of the recent plunge in the stock market..."_

Shego dumbly listened to the newscast from her place in the chair, which she had moved to be against the opposite wall from his bed. The oleander poison was taking its sweet time working out of her system, and she had resolved to keep her distance from Drakken just in case it somehow transferred. He didn't need any health complications.

She found herself frowning more and more as she listened again to the circular talk of the flavor-of-the-day expert, attempting to sound knowledgeable when most of what she had heard so far was opinion from people who just wanted to talk. It was amazing to her that the most reliable information she had found regarding anything in the current situation had come from Drakken.

The mad scientist was currently sitting up in bed coughing. The laptop was on his lap, and Shego could see the sheen of sweat on his forehead even from her post against the opposite wall. The dark circles under his eyes were deeper and his skin looked almost translucent, which combined made him appear almost ghostlike... But for the moment, she wasn't insisting he rest.

Largely because, she had spent an inordinate amount of time resting herself since they had returned to the lair after her impromptu excursion a day and a half prior and she just hadn't had the energy to make him. Her cough had returned with a vengeance after spending too long out in the elements, the morning sickness was near-constant, and the oleander poisoning made her feel even worse.

That afternoon after sitting in silence with him for over three hours as he frowned at the laptop screen, she'd left the room in frustration. She had taken a long, soothing shower and then dressed in her favorite pajamas. After that and a hot meal, microwaved though it was, she started to feel a bit like herself again. But returning to Drakken's room later had brought back the depression that she hadn't realized was settling in around her.

The bedroom had completely lost any connotations of love or desire, or even evil as she looked around at the small hill of laundry, the trash bag next to the bed full of napkins (they had run out of tissues), the endless drone of the news on the TV above, and the coughing blue man in the bed staring at the laptop.

So Shego sat with uncharacteristic silence and stillness in the chair except when she coughed, watching him work. There was one thing pressing through the weight of hopelessness however that kept her from just giving into the desire to go to sleep until it was all over. It was her other reason for allowing Drakken to work, despite the fact that going out had clearly overtaxed him.

She was still waiting for his verdict on whether or not the two antihistamine pills she had taken would hurt the baby.

She looked down at her hands in her lap with a grimace. Some of the scabs were still present from the damage she had done to herself, but those that had already healed and fallen off had left pale white scars in their place. They looked like polka dots over Shego's palms and the backs of her hands. She hoped her face wouldn't suffer the same disfigurement, but the more she dwelt on the prospect the easier she found it was to give in to despair.

A rasping cough from Drakken brought her still-swollen eyes back up to look at him. She was surprised to find him watching her as he reached for a napkin. The stern set of his face had relaxed.

"Doc?" she said, not bothering to sit up.

As he replied, every word was separated by several coughs.

"The...antihistamines...are...harmless," he said. "You can...take...more."

Shego glanced around the room until she spotted the discarded pharmacy bag on his vanity. And then a mental war began in her mind. She should get up and take another pill... It would probably reduce the risk of more scarring. But something was pressing in the back of her mind, repeating over and over... _'What's the point?'_

Drakken's coughing subsided and he looked at her curiously. "Shego?"

She looked at him. After a moment she slowly rolled her eyes and stood up, crossing the room to the vanity. For some reason...she didn't want him to know how miserable she was feeling.

She got one of the antihistamine pills and swallowed it back with a drink from her water bottle, and then she leaned back against his vanity with a sigh. She glanced up at the TV where a camera was panning over empty grocery store shelves.

"Shego?" he repeated.

She started back to her chair. "What's the point? I'm still gonna end up looking like a green Easter egg."

When she sat down, her brow rose in surprise as Drakken began pushing the blankets back and getting out of bed.

"What are you doing?" she asked suspiciously as he approached her pharmacy bag.

He leaned against the vanity and coughed as he reached inside the bag and pulled out the tiny bottle of eye drops. He clutched the bottle as he hunched lower over the table, the coughs shaking him almost down to his feet.

Shego leaned forward, worry for him starting to break through her despondency, when his coughing finally began to subside. Shaking, he straightened up and started toward her with the eye drops.

With a sigh and a frown she held out her hand to take them, but he didn't give them to her. Instead he stood next to the chair and unscrewed the cap from the drops.

"What are you—?"

"Tilt your head back," he said quietly.

Shego's jaw worked for a moment before she complied, her brow furrowing. She tried to open her eyes wider as Drakken prepared to put the drops in, reading the bottle for the dosage. She peered up at his concentrated expression and surprisingly steady hand until the cold drops hit each of her eyes in turn. She blinked to work the medication in, and as she raised her head she found her eyes moistening for a different reason altogether.

"You're supposed to use these every day for two weeks," Drakken said as he screwed the cap back on the bottle.

Shego stared without focus at the bed, biting the inside of her cheeks as a lump began forming in her throat. A moment later her vision was filled as Drakken knelt in front of her, his concerned eyes staring straight into hers.

She looked away.

His hands suddenly holding one of hers brought her gaze back, and she watched as he lifted her scarred hand to his lips and kissed it. Shego frowned, but couldn't stop the tears that had begun to sting her eyes.

Drakken stared at her, his expression a mixture of worry and nervousness. But a moment later his gaze dropped as he kissed her hand again. He kissed her knuckles each in turn, and then down the backs of each of her fingers. He uncurled her hand and kissed her palm, and then the inside of her wrist.

He looked at her again, as if asking for permission, and Shego struggled to keep the frown on her face even as her lips began to tremble. He ignored her expression and slowly kissed up the inside of her arm, pausing at the warm, sensitive skin at the inside of her elbow. She felt the slight tickle of his tongue before he continued up toward her bicep.

"You're gonna get this rash," she managed to say as her throat tightened.

He ignored her again, pushing up the sleeve of her t-shirt to kiss her shoulder. His lips lingered there and she closed her eyes, allowing herself to feel the tender touch as a shaky breath escaped her lips.

Suddenly the touch was gone as he broke away to cough, and the wall of anger and depression she had been building started to crumble as her hands tightly gripped his shoulders.

"You should be resting," she said hoarsely when his coughing fit subsided, a tear rolling down her cheek.

His frame was shaking and unsteady as he turned back to her, his gaze resolute. He took her hands in his.

"Come...come to bed with me," he said nervously.

Too many emotions swirled within her at the kind insistence of his voice, the gentle authority in his eyes, and the tender way he held her hands as if they were glass and might break. Her lips trembled and she didn't know what to do as everything inside her seemed to collapse under a tsunami wave of passions, both good and ill.

Her lips parted to speak, but she couldn't form any words to say. His eyes grew more worried as he slowly pulled her to her feet and they walked the short distance to the bed.

Shego let him sit her down, and then scooted with him toward the middle of the bed. The discomfiture in his eyes was growing as he was clearly trying to figure out what to do next. She solved his problem for him by leaning across the distance and kissing him. Her heart began racing as his response was immediate and sensual, his tongue slipping between her lips to caress hers.

She breathed in sharply through her nostrils and hummed her desirous approval, pulling him closer with a hand behind his neck...

She broke away as a cough suddenly racked her frame, turning her back to him as she leaned down with her forearms on the mattress. Tears slipped from her eyes as she again slipped down into the internal pit of misery she had dug for herself.

A moment later Drakken's hands were lain gently on her back, and she heard him cough too. She couldn't bring herself to look up again. There just...

"There isn't anything to hope for," she heard a voice say. She knew it was hers, though it didn't sound like anything she would ever say. "I just want my life back."

His arms encircled her from behind, one around her shoulders and the other around her waist, and his cheek rested against the top of her head. She shuddered as she tried to measure her breaths and stop the stream of tears that had begun, leaning into his heat. The realization of just how thin he was as she pressed into him helped her focus, and her control quickly returned. She breathed slowly as she absorbed the feel of him, his touch in that moment seeming like everything she had wanted and could ever want.

"Shego?" he said softly.

She turned to face him and brought her hands up to grip his shoulders. He glanced away with a slight frown, and then brought his gaze back to meet hers. A slight anxiety was added to his eyes as he did.

"Th-think about it... There must be...millions of people like us, right now," he said slowly. "We just have to...go on."

His words were a sliver of light penetrating the dark cloud over her soul. He wasn't nearly as good at motivational speeches as he was evil monologues, but...every word was sincere. She turned and coughed into her shoulder, clinging to his words as the dark cloud threatened to push them out.

"You kept me alive."

She stifled her cough and looked up.

"I think about it, every day... You're what I'm hoping for."

Shego felt a familiar anxiety rise in her chest. It was time... There may not come another time... To talk about what they were.

She slid her hands up and laced her fingers behind his neck, glancing away apprehensively. "Um... You might not remember... Probably don't, since you were delirious... But...a few weeks ago you said that... You said that you love me."

She held her breath as she looked up and found Drakken looking anxious as well. She realized she was expecting denial, or an excuse, or something to reason away everything he had done in the last few minutes that was demanding she open the doors of her heart. It was a risk she wasn't sure if she could truly take.

He took a slow breath in through his nose, and then let it out. "I remember."

Her brow lifted slightly.

"I remember...you were cooling me with ice, and I kept telling myself to, _'live, live, live,'_ because of..." His gaze dropped, and Shego knew he meant the baby. "But I was so tired and thought each time I fell asleep...I might not wake up again. And I didn't want to die without telling you."

He glanced away at the last, a hint of fear in his eyes. Shego felt a disquieting sense like electricity course through her as she took a nervous breath.

"So...you do love me?"

Drakken looked back sharply, and then had to turn away again to cough. Shego lightly rubbed his neck as she waited, worry settling into the pit of her stomach.

"Yes!" he said when he looked at her again. The sudden shock in his eyes began morphing into fear. "You do... Um. You said...that you love me?"

"I do," she said quickly.

His jaw worked for a moment, and he coughed lightly into his shoulder. "Why?"

Her brow furrowed lightly. Why? She hadn't...tried to itemize any reasons. But as she looked at him, his eyes were growing more concerned. She wondered if he had the same locked door around his heart that she did.

"I don't know," she admitted, feeling her anxiety manifest as tension in her shoulders. "I just...want to be with you all the time, and...talk to you, and hear you talk...and try to take over the world with you."

Her gaze fell and the worry in her stomach grew as she felt the explanation was wholly inadequate. Who talked about love like that?

"Oh, and...you're cute," she added, glancing back up and blushing as she said it.

She watched him cautiously and found his expression to be something of complete bewilderment.

"You like hearing me talk?" he finally said.

She nodded as she turned to cough into her shoulder.

"But you're always making fun of..." he trailed off as he seemed to be searching for a word.

Shego tried to follow his thoughts and arrived at, "...Everything?"

He nodded.

Shego considered. "Just when your plans are dumb."

Drakken frowned. "So all of them?"

He lifted his hands to her shoulders as if to push her away, but then hesitated. Shego held her breath until he replaced his arms around her and then they both sighed.

"If you'd ever take my advice, then maybe they wouldn't be..." she muttered.

His frown deepened as he took in a sharp breath. "You...just...why don't you... Nyah!" he said over her head, pulling away and crossing his arms over his chest.

Shego felt the pain she had feared so much rush through her heart's door like a stampede, trampling that fragile part of her that she didn't yet understand. She threw out anger in defense.

"Like you've ever done anything to suggest you love me," she argued back, crossing her arms and legs and turning away from him.

She felt the renewed prickle of tears in her eyes as she sat hunched forward on the bed, the tension in her shoulders and neck increasing. What had happened? It was only minutes ago that he was kissing her arm and melting her anxieties with little more than the look in his eyes.

A minute passed. And then...

"Shego?"

His fingers touched her arm, and she coughed to hide her sniffle.

"I'm sorry. And I don't...really know why I love you either. But I, um... I love everything about you. I always have."

Shego grimaced as she kept her face steadfastly away from him. Why did he have to be the bigger person and apologize? When he hadn't even really said anything that could be considered 'wrong' between them that needed apologizing for.

"...Shego?"

With a growl of frustration she turned and flung her arms around him, knocking him back onto his elbows as she kissed him fiercely. After a moment of shock he kissed her back, pushing himself up and then grabbing her shoulders tightly.

When he inevitably pulled away to cough Shego looked at him through narrowed, angry, and frustrated eyes. His own were annoyed, hurt, and a bit worried. When his coughing fit subsided she hit him once in the arm with her fist.

"I just love you, okay!" Shego said, her shoulders shaking as a sob threatened to burst from her chest.

Fear pricked like a knife at her tender heart as he looked like he might push her away, his eyes revealing the battle still going on in his mind. But a moment later he was kissing her softly, and his hands gently guided her to lay down on the bed. His weight soon covered her, and she wrapped her arms and legs tightly around him as she cried into the the soft caress of his lips.

_"...And reports from around the world today have the death toll at over 11,000..."_

* * *

** Day 85 **

Shego emerged from Drakken's bathroom with her wet hair wrapped in a towel and his robe surrounding her body. She had all but moved into his room while taking care of him, and by that point it just made sense to shower there too. She could keep a better eye on him that way.

To her relief and joy, he seemed to need less and less watching with each passing day. For the last two days he had voluntarily left his bed to shower—actually shower, not sit in a bath—and returned both times not looking like the effort of simply standing upright had sapped all of his energy. He had started eating more too, and that morning had eaten what could almost be considered a normal-portioned breakfast for a man of his size.

As Shego crossed the room to the laundry pile for some clean clothes, she glanced at him. He had put on sweat pants and a t-shirt after his shower, and combed his hair but not tied it back. It was still slightly damp, the ends wetting the shoulders of his shirt. He sat cross-legged on the bed on top of the covers and was intently studying something on the laptop screen. If he weren't still so thin and pale, she might not have known he was sick.

Shego smiled softly and took off his robe, tossing it onto the bed. She watched him glance at it and then her, and then do a double-take as she bent over the laundry pile. Her body, still wet from the shower, glistened as she searched amid the various clean sheets and his clothes for her own. Knowing he was watching her almost made her forget about the white scars that dotted her skin.

When she found a large t-shirt and straightened up, the look he gave her pulled a laugh out of her chest. Something between shock and lust and annoyance was in his eyes as he stared at her, slack-jawed and arms hanging limply at his sides.

She pulled the comfortable t-shirt over her head and shook her wet hair out, and then set about finding her underwear and pajama pants. Drakken let out a loud, shaky sigh.

"Shego..." he whined.

She chuckled again, her lips twisting into a smirk.

"What?" she asked innocently.

He had risen up to his knees, the laptop sliding away and almost off the edge of the bed. Her voice brought him back to awareness and he sat down quickly with a low growl, crossing his arms as his eyes narrowed in frustration.

"Don't worry, I'm coming," she assured him as she slipped into her pants.

"Then why'd you get dressed!" he snapped.

Her smirk grew. "You could stand to learn a little patience."

He grabbed fistfuls of the blanket he sat on and yanked it up to his knees, his knuckles whitening. He pinched his eyes shut as he turned his face toward the ceiling. "I don't want to be patient!" he protested.

Shego knelt on the bed and started crawling toward him.

"Someone's feeling better," she quipped.

Drakken reached over and hurriedly closed the laptop cover, pushing the device further out of the way on the bed and then opened his arms to her.

"What? Got something to hide?"

His annoyance apparently had faded, and he smirked at her. "I'm giving you my full attention."

"Good. Because I miss being close to you."

She saw him blush as she started propping pillows up against the headboard, and then he scooted back to sit up against them. After their tearful make-out session a few days earlier, something was definitely different between them. And in that moment she didn't feel any apprehension about their undefined relationship. She snuggled into his side and he settled his arms around her, squeezing her affectionately before frowning at her wet hair.

"Haven't you heard of a blow-dryer?"

"And have my hair break up and fall out? No thanks."

She watched his eyes turn up toward his hairline as his brow furrowed in concern, and she shook with silent laughter.

The TV was on as always, and Shego looked at it through half-lidded eyes as her head dropped on Drakken's shoulder.

"Anything new? Like a vaccine, or a miracle cure?"

Drakken shook his head, glancing briefly at the laptop before sighing. "More countries have quarantined... And those that haven't have ordered people to stay away from each other. I think...we can get used to living like this."

Shego felt a familiar pang and darkness in her heart. She forced the enslaving thoughts away before they could take hold by sliding her hand down Drakken's chest. He blinked at her in surprise as her hand reached his waist and then after a pause moved lower still with purpose.

"Ohhhh..." he groaned, tossing his head back and bumping it hard into the headboard. He didn't even react. "Shego..."

"I think someone's definitely feeling better," she grinned as she climbed over his lap to face him.

He looked at her and fairly snarled as he dug his fingers into her thighs. "You shouldn't have gotten dressed!"

* * *

** Day 87 **

Shego felt much more like herself wearing her regular green and black suit, with the exception of the sterile nitrile gloves both she and Drakken wore on their hands. He too was back in his normal attire, and at her insistence they both wore respirators as they worked in the lab.

Drakken had sorted through his notes and kept the ones that were still relevant. Everything he deemed obsolete, including all but two of the Petri dishes, had gone into a pile that Shego had burned. After some research and scouring the lair for spare parts, Drakken devised a machine that combined Shego's glow and a pressure washer to fill the lab with pressurized steam, effectively sterilizing everything from floor to ceiling.

Seeing the success of his slap-dash invention Drakken had been motivated to sterilize the entire lair. But Shego suggested they focus on one thing at a time, the whole point of sterilizing the lab being that Drakken was eager to get back to his research now that he was feeling better. After a brief argument, he had agreed.

The lab was still wet from the steam hours after the pressure-cleaning, but Drakken had run out of patience waiting for it to air-dry. So Shego was methodically rubbing down everything but the walls and floor with towels while Drakken busied himself with reorganizing and testing all of the computers and equipment.

Shego frowned as her arms started to ache from her task, not having been properly exercised in ages. She found herself mulling over the rapport she and Drakken had naturally fallen into that day. He was back to ordering her around, and she was snarking at him as if nothing at all was different between them.

She had accepted his command to do the grunt work because one, the henchmen were still gone; two, they wouldn't do it right anyway; and three, there was no way Drakken would bother. If she wanted the lab clean and virus-free, it was definitely up to her. So she graciously hadn't set his coat on fire when he tossed a single towel at her upon their re-entrance to the lab.

It was the lack of eye-contact, affectionate smiles, and sincere conversation that were really bothering her. But...maybe they just didn't know how to do that in the lab-environment yet. She had effectively held him hostage in the bedroom for over a month for the sake of his recovery, although the last week she thought he could have ventured out without harm to himself.

They were still stuck on the island if they chose to obey the quarantine laws... Maybe she needed to get him off the idea of finding a treatment for the disease and just focus on...becoming themselves again. He had apparently had a world-domination plot involving fast food toys that he was really proud of, as lame as she remembered it being when he told her... Maybe she could get him to work on that instead, and then they could find their way toward whatever normal was supposed to be.

"I don't see what the rush is..." Shego said in annoyance as she wiped down the giant computer screen, standing atop the desk. "I mean...you're not gonna find a treatment today."

"I'm getting close!" he said in a mixture of pride and desperation as he uploaded his files from her laptop to the main computer. "Nnh...would you move?"

She glanced at him over her shoulder and wondered...was it true?

"Didn't know you were a biomechanic, Doc," she said with a grin, hopping down and smacking him in the rear with the damp towel.

He glowered at her and rubbed his rump for a moment before turning back to the computer screen.

"Necessity is often the mother of genius," he said with a confident smirk as the upload completed. He began disconnecting her laptop.

"Invention."

"Hn?"

"Invention. The expression is, 'necessity is the mother of invention.'"

"That too."

Shego was about to toss that towel on the used pile and go for a fresh one, when a thought literally stopped her in her tracks, her right foot frozen mid-step. Her eyes went wide.

"Uh...Drakken?"

"Hn?"

She turned to face him, twisting the towel in her hands and setting her foot down.

"Drakken!"

"What, Shego?"

He coughed into his shoulder as he turned to face her. The annoyance in his eyes vanished as he took in her wide-eyed alarm.

She took a deep breath. Maybe she was wrong...

"...When's the last time you—"

The landline in the lair began ringing. Drakken was closer and peered down at the tiny digital screen.

"No caller I.D.," he announced as Shego looked at him anxiously. He shrugged and picked up the phone.

"Dr. D.—!"

"Hello? Dr. Drakken's lair," he said sweetly. "Yes, she's here, may I ask who's calling?"

Shego strode up to him and grabbed the phone in impatience, her body shaking now with fear from her revelation. When she brought the receiver to her ear, her eyes narrowed at the sound of the voice on the other end. Drakken watched her curiously as he could only hear her side of the conversation.

"How did you get this number? Yes I'm fine... No, I— _No,_ I don't care how you're doing. Why would I? ...Who cares if we're family? ...Hego, I am _not_ going to come visit—"

She suddenly heard a dial tone as Drakken pressed the switchhook, and a second later the receiver was snatched out of her hands as he cried out in panic.

"I forgot about Mother!"

Shego collapsed against the desk as he dialed her number and placed the receiver next to his own ear, his feet dancing in fear as he waited for the call to be answered.

"That's what I was trying to tell you!"

The phone rang out and went to the answering machine. His eyes went ever wider as he depressed the switchhook and quickly dialed again. The phone went to the answering machine for the second time.

"I have to go to her!" he cried as he ran out of the room, not even giving Shego a glance.

"I'm coming with you," she said as she jogged after him.

* * *

Drakken jumped out of the hover-car before Shego had fully set it down in front of the old colonial house. He ran down the walkway and up the porch steps in two impressive leaps, and Shego sprinted after him as soon as the key was out of the ignition. He yanked at the door handle fiercely and discovered it was locked. Shego jogged up next to him and flared her hands.

"Do you want me to—?"

She didn't get to finish the sentence as Drakken stepped back and kicked the door in, leaving Shego blinking in surprise.

"All right then," she said, letting her hands go out and following Drakken who had already disappeared through the door.

Shego felt her skin crawl as she entered the dark house. The air was stale and held an odor that defied description, and there was a familiar but eerie sound coming from somewhere. Everything about the house made her want to turn and run and leave anyone inside to fate. But she kept moving forward.

"Mother!" she heard Drakken calling as she hurried to catch up with him. "Mother! Moth—"

Drakken's calls broke off with a strangled cry and Shego followed the sound of his voice into the house's small living room. She nearly collided with his back, and her breath caught as she peered around his shoulder at the horrible sight.

They were far, far too late.

The body of Mrs. Lipsky sat slumped in a chair in front of a television that was still running, the volume turned low. A pile of tissues was on the floor next to the chair, and an empty cup with a dry, used tea-bag sat on an end table. A tissue box and the TV remote were in her lap.

She was almost unrecognizable with her face abnormally bloated and sagging, and her skin mottled purple, blue, and green. Shego noted a puddle of thick, brownish liquid beneath the chair, and the odor in the room was so foul that Shego nearly choked.

"Mother?" Drakken gasped in fright. He started forward.

The fear that Shego had automatically begun to compartmentalize assaulted her like an electric shock. She grabbed Drakken's arms and dug her nails in hard to stop his advance.

"No!" she cried desperately when he pulled against her in protest. "No!"

He fought her with every step as she dragged him from the room, prying at her hands until she ignited them and very nearly set his coat on fire. The words and half-sentences that he shouted were incoherent as he shoved and clawed at her and tried to escape back inside. But she grit her teeth and endured the abuse until she had him out of the house.

She threw him down on the porch probably harder than he deserved, his face hitting the aged wood with a loud _smack_. When he pushed himself up and looked at her, there was murder in his eyes and blood dripping from a cut on his lip. His enraged glare was unwavering as he stumbled to his feet and lifted his hands as if to lunge at her, his fingers outstretched like eagles' talons. Shego fell back into a fighting stance and ignited her hands, and he abruptly halted his approach.

They stood at an impasse, silent but for the heaving of their chests as they caught their breath. Drakken's eyes darted around the porch as if calculating a way around her. Every time his gaze passed over her the bared-teeth set of his jaw intensified and his eyes darkened with rage.

Shego didn't flinch under his fury, her mind made up that there was no way short of his killing her that she would allow him back into that house. Her own expression was resolute and commanding. But as the seconds passed, the devastating pain of what they had witnessed began creeping into her eyes.

"No," she said firmly as Drakken didn't show any sign of relenting. His eyes finally stopped on her with a look of accusation, as if she had somehow betrayed him. Her brow twisted in sadness even as her frown deepened and she shook her head. "No."

Drakken's rage began to abate as his face contorted in desperation, his eyes almost begging. But Shego shook her head.

"No," she breathed, her eyes likewise pleading with him to stop.

As she calmly stared him down, his resolve began to waver. Then after what felt like an eternity, Drakken seemed to shrink in front of her as he couldn't hold onto the anger anymore. It left him withered and broken even before his body hit the porch, and a second later Shego was on her knees in front of him, breaking his fall.

"Aaaahhhhh!" was the bone-chilling cry that came out of Drakken as he fell the rest of the way to the deck, his forehead nearly hitting the wooden planks even as Shego caught him. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight as a lump formed in her throat. He turned and clung to her, almost knocking her off-balance as he sobbed loudly into her hair. Shego rested her cheek on his shoulder and let her own tears slip down her face.

* * *

** Day 90 **

Drakken was different. On the surface, to the casual observer, he probably would seem the same. But with pain in her heart that increased day by day, Shego knew better.

As he worked in the lab his mutterings were more frequent and more calculating. He didn't gloat about his work or his genius anymore. He didn't ask for her help, or even look at her though he was aware of her sitting at the other desk watching him. But worse was the way he was when outside of the lab.

The drive back to the island three days prior was spent with both of them in tears, but Shego had watched with foreboding as Drakken's grief turned back into rage as the hours passed. When they reached the lair he had declared that he needed to be alone and had shut her out of his bedroom. And he hadn't let her back in since.

He didn't prepare meals for her when he ate, didn't ask her for help in opening his pickle jars, and barely spoke to her but to announce that he was going to work on a vaccine in the mornings, or that he was tired and going to bed each night. He had all but shut her out entirely.

At first she had kept a respectful distance, not knowing what his grieving process would be like. She would be there if he needed her, or give him space if he needed space. But his grief was obviously now manifesting in anger toward her, and she was at a loss to understand why.

It couldn't be because of what had happened at the house... He was intelligent. He knew better. She knew that he understood why she had stopped him from going back, and also understood that his own reaction was from fearful, basic instinct. His rational mind would have never let him do what he did, or what he wanted to do.

So why?

As he sat in the lab that day, graphs running on the computer screen while he hovered over a microscope and a new, messy stack of papers, Shego decided it was time for a change. Either she would find out why he was apparently targeting her in his grief...or not. But regardless, she wanted him to know that he was hurting her by shutting her out.

"So...any progress?" she asked cautiously as she approached his workbench.

"Mm. Some," he answered without looking up.

"Do you...have an idea of how long it will be yet?" she pressed gently, hoping the neutral topic was a safe one.

He moved away from the microscope and started writing on a piece of paper. He didn't answer her.

She pursed her lips and sat back against the workbench and looked across the room at the computer. For the first time she actually looked at the information running on the screen. Much of it was chemical formulas and equations that she didn't understand, but in one corner was a small graph that compared the rising death toll and a predicted death toll, apparently calculated by him.

"Over 30,000 people have died?" she asked in astonishment.

He glanced briefly at the screen, and then up at her. His frown deepened when they made eye contact and she felt oddly uneasy. He set his pen down and quickly scanned the paper he'd been writing on.

"I need these things," he said, thrusting the paper at her. As soon as she had grabbed it he pressed his eyes to the microscope again.

She read through the list that was mostly equipment that was largely unfamiliar to her. But as she got near the end she suddenly looked up in surprise.

"Wait...you want live mice and monkeys?"

"How do you think vaccines are tested, Shego?" he said cynically.

She blinked and kept reading, frowning at his implication. She was startled again as she saw that for every item on the list, he had named exactly where she would need to go to steal them.

"So...I'll find everything at these places?" she asked, amazed that he'd done something so practical.

"Obviously," he said, turning to cough into his shoulder.

She looked at him and frowned, but took a deep breath. "This will help you make a vaccine faster."

"Mm."

He didn't look away from the microscope. Shego started toward the door, trying to figure out how long she would be gone as she looked at the list of locations and started building a mental map. The sound of him muttering something clearly not meant for her ears stopped her, and she turned back.

"Could have been finished by now if you hadn't kept me trapped in bed..."

Shego's brow rose. _'Kept him trapped...?'_

She shook her head and left to start on the list. Maybe his anger would fade when he had made more progress.

* * *

Shego returned that night with all of the smaller items on his list. The big ones and the live animals would take more time, since she would need a different way of transporting each of them than the hover-car.

When she brought her acquisitions to the lab to ask where he wanted them, he wasn't there. Her brow furrowing, she set the boxes down and headed for his bedroom. The kitchen and living room she had already seen were empty.

As she reached Drakken's door, she hesitated. Ordinarily, she would just walk in. Even before they became a couple she took the liberty, she realized, though then it was just to annoy him. But now...she worried.

She knocked.

After ten seconds of silence she wondered if he was asleep, but then the door slid open to reveal him still dressed and scowling.

"What?"

"I got most of the things on your list. They're in the lab," she said, gesturing over her shoulder with her thumb.

He raised a brow. "...That was...efficient."

She took a deep breath. "Can I come in?"

His eyes lost their steel for a split-second, as sadness passed through. But he had schooled his features in less than a moment.

"I'm going to bed," he stated.

She opened her mouth and sucked in a breath, trying to figure out if there was a best way to say she could go to bed with him that wouldn't upset him. But he turned and headed back into the room before she could speak, muttering to himself. She leaned through the open door to listen.

"If you'd been this efficient before maybe Mother would still be alive..."

Shego's brow shot up.

Drakken grabbed a paper off his vanity and brought it back to her. "Here, I thought of more things I need for the vaccine."

Shego stared at him, stunned. Was he...blaming _her_ for his mother's death? She took the paper that he held out to her as she processed what she had just heard. But the second her hand was back through the door he closed it in her face.

She backed away with another gasp, but after a moment her eyes narrowed. Who did he think he was, closing doors in her face? After she had just been out all day during a quarantine, stealing from stores and offices and _hospitals_ of all places, getting supplies for something that might not even work. Not to mention she had struggled to keep him alive while she herself suffered the disease at the same time, _and_ dealt with morning sickness.

Only the paper in her hands kept them from flaring as she glared at the closed door. She lifted her hand to knock again, but then stopped.

Drakken... Drakken didn't really mean it. He was just in pain.

She turned and headed down the hall, away from the living area. She stopped briefly at her room to secure his two lists, and then started toward the gym to work off her frustration.

* * *

** Day 92 **

Shego's arms shook as she held the barbell up above her head on the eighteenth repetition. Despite her will, her physical weakness forced her to drop the heavy weight on the mat at her feet in the gymnasium. She growled in frustration at her sorry state, but reminded herself to take it easy. She hadn't done her regular workout in over a month. Some loss of muscle mass was entirely normal.

After the revelations two days before, she had given up lingering in the lab hoping Drakken would acknowledge her and had started spending all of her time in the gym. It had been far too physically challenging to drag Drakken out of his mother's house, especially considering his diminished capacity. She needed to get back in shape.

She picked the barbell up and completed the last two reps before replacing it on the rack and removing the weights. That was the end of her training for the day, already having done two hours that morning and another four in the afternoon. She was trying to be conscious of not pushing herself too far as she was still technically recovering from the disease.

Not to mention, she was pregnant.

She needed to do research on how and how not to exercise during her condition, but, Drakken still had her laptop. Maybe she could catch him while he was still in the lab, if she moved fast enough.

She decided to skip stretching and a shower as she headed upstairs to find him. Since he had been retiring to his room earlier and earlier—a tactic he was using to avoid her, she had decided—she might miss him entirely if she didn't act quickly.

When she entered the lab she sighed in relief. He was standing in front of the workbench fiddling with something.

She approached silently since every time she announced herself he snapped at her for startling him. When she was almost at his shoulder he turned with a choked gasp and raised his hands defensively. Despite herself, she smirked.

"Shego!"

Her heart ached. That was the most...Drakken-like thing he had done in days.

"How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me!"

"Sorry," she shrugged. "Wasn't trying to."

He scowled and turned back to the workbench.

"Where have you been?" he asked accusingly.

"Uh...the gym?" she said, gesturing to her attire. He glanced back and gave her tennis shoes, stretch pants, and sports bra a once-over. But he had no other reaction than to take note.

The irrational thought flitted through her head that she wasn't attractive to him anymore, but she pushed it out as quickly as it had entered.

"Why aren't you here?" he said. "I need you."

The ache in her heart intensified, but unfortunately it didn't filter her response to him. "Uh, I already got everything on your stupid lists. Even the monkeys. What else do you need?"

"Well fine, if you don't want to help! Be that way!"

Shego's eyes widened as her mouth turned down in a scowl.

"Nice to see you too, Doc," she said as she turned on her heel to leave. She was glad he couldn't see the trembling of her lips as she strode rapidly toward the door.

Remembering her reason for coming, she paused and quickly glanced around the lab. Her laptop was lying closed on the large computer desk, and she quickly crossed the room to grab it. He obviously wasn't using it anymore.

She glanced at him once more before leaving, but he was engrossed in his work again. She jogged toward the door, suddenly finding it painful to be in the same room with him.

Once she was outside the lab she paused and leaned back against the wall, her heart pounding heavily. What had just happened? He said...he wanted her there. He said he needed her.

But...did he really, or did he just need a target for his disturbed emotions?

She swallowed down the sudden urge to cry and hurried back to her room. A shower would help, and then she could start researching the limits on exercise while pregnant...and research pregnancy in general.

It was time to focus on herself for a change.

Shego lay on her back in her small bed, staring at the ceiling. It wasn't as comfortable as Drakken's. She felt confined, even though she had complete freedom of movement; no other body around her to consider when she rolled over during the night.

She sighed. She missed him.

She stretched and rolled over to glance at the status of her charging laptop. It had been dead when she tried to start it up, and she realized it had probably been sitting in the lab untouched since the morning they had left to find Drakken's mother.

The charge indicator showed fifty percent, so she grabbed it and rolled over onto her stomach as she pressed the power button. It started quickly, waking up from a sleep mode, and Shego mentally shrugged as she typed in her password to log in.

She brushed her damp hair from her shower out of her eyes as she stared at the screen. The number of files open were innumerable, and most appeared to be written in Greek or in some sort of code she didn't understand. She grimaced as she started minimizing the files, worrying that they may not all be saved and that one might hold something critical that Drakken needed and hadn't gotten transferred to the lab computer.

All she needed the laptop for was the web browser, and she could see down in the home bar that the software was already running. She frowned as she kept minimizing his files that never seemed to end. How he had managed to not crash her hard drive was a mystery.

She minimized a tiny text file that looked startlingly different from the rest. A quick glance showed it only contained a small list of similar dollar amounts, and as the file vanished down into the home bar suddenly all that was left was the browser.

Shego's jaw dropped. The browser was open to an image search, and Drakken's search term had been...'engagement rings.'

"Oh..." she breathed as she started tabbing through the open windows. He had opened eight different windows with rings that he apparently liked. She pursed her lips and brought up again the last, tiny text file with the dollar amounts and quickly saw that they were in fact the prices for each ring. He had put an asterisk next to one of the prices—not the highest one, but close—and she went back to the browser and tabbed through until she found the one that corresponded.

The engagement ring that he apparently favored had a large, round-cut, white diamond set in a plain yellow gold band. Two pale aquamarines were set on each side of the center stone. The ring came with a wedding band—an eternity ring of tiny white diamonds set again in yellow gold.

"Oh, Dr. Drakken..." she murmured affectionately as she saved the web page to her crowded desktop. She opened a new browser window and started looking for men's rings that would match, her heart aching ever more.

* * *

** Day 94 **

Shego spent less time in the gym, balancing it with time in the lab in the renewed hope her discovery on the computer had brought her. It gave her something to hold on to, since the overriding emotion of her life was quickly becoming fear. She knew Drakken had been thinking of marriage _before_ finding his mother dead, but...had he changed his mind after?

His behavior toward her certainly seemed to suggest such a turn, which was the source of her fear. The idea that his feelings could have changed so drastically in so short a time was devastating beyond description.

She had to know.

Spending time in the lab was the only way she was going to get an answer, and since he had said he needed her he really had no excuse to put her out. So she had resumed working with him and watched constantly for hints one way or the other about his feelings. And in nearly two days' time, she had learned absolutely nothing.

He would ask—demand, rather—that she help him with something, and she would comply. Sometimes they fell into the familiar pattern of banter back and forth, except his remarks were always trite, and she rapidly found hers departing from playful and leaning into antagonism. And once she got started arguing with him about something, no matter how inane, it was nearly impossible to stop.

It was startlingly easy to get mad at him, and she knew that riling him up against her would accomplish the opposite of what she wanted. So on that second day she spent less time leaning up against his workbench handing him tools and more time sitting in the desk chair near the computer.

It was getting late in the evening and he hadn't asked anything of her in over an hour, so she started reading a medical text she had found with a chapter about pregnancy. It was seriously lacking in semantics, but it gave her useful information.

Suddenly she felt a soft flicking feeling within her abdomen. She dropped the book with a gasp and sat forward.

Drakken turned halfway in his chair and raised his brow at her, his lips still set in a frown like stone.

"What?" he asked with a bit of annoyance.

Shego set a hand over her stomach, glancing down briefly before looking across the room at him with wide eyes. "I...I think I felt the baby move."

He looked startled, and she watched his unyielding look of menace finally soften ever-slightly into something between revelation and curiosity. But before she could speak again he had whirled around to face the workbench, his shoulders dipping in a familiar hunch as he resumed his work.

She held her breath, willing him to turn back to her or say something—anything at all, even for ill, just so she could _know._

Minutes passed.

He didn't look at her again.

She sighed and let her gaze fall. She sank sadly back into the chair, resting her other hand below her first as she felt the soft flicking again of the new life moving inside her. She wished... She wished...

Her eyes lifted as she heard Drakken try to stifle a cough, and she saw him lift his face up briefly, apparently staring at the ceiling, before his head dipped low. His hands rose to his face and made a wiping motion outward from beneath his eyes, and then he rubbed his sleeve under his nose as she heard him sniff.

A single tear rolled down her cheek.

* * *

** Day 95 **

Shego stood in front of the floor-length mirror in her room wearing only her underwear as she studied her appearance. She had definitely lost weight and muscle mass during her illness, but not nearly as noticeably as Drakken had. Her face and particularly her hands still bore some faint white polka-dot scars from the oleander poisoning. But none of those were what had driven her to the mirror that morning.

She turned to the side and stared. It was there. A small but very firm bump low on her belly. It was so obvious now as she looked at it that she wondered why she hadn't noticed before, since it was clearly not part of her regular weight and body type. But she supposed to the average observer it might just look like she wasn't very fit.

She set her hands lightly over her middle as she idly thought backward, trying to figure out when she had conceived. She and Drakken had slept together four times when she had taken the pregnancy test. Two of those times were far too close to the time she took the test for it to have registered anything, so she could rule them out. It had to have been one of the first two.

She considered the second time. That was the time in the lab... Her heart rate quickened at the memory and her brow furrowed. That had been a bit...reckless. A laser had gone off and nearly brought the ceiling down. She had decided afterwards that they could be adventurous enough without leaving the bedroom.

Actually, that hadn't been the greatest experience.

Shego frowned and left the mirror to put on her robe as the morning chill caused goosebumps to rise over her skin. She thought about the very first time, which had been entirely unique in comparison to everything after, the lab included.

It had started with a kiss... A brief, impulsive peck as he shouted into her face. She had interrupted his rant and snickered at his confused and even more enraged look in the moments immediately following. But her laughter stopped when he had grabbed her and pushed her up against the wall and stared at her.

She remembered the uncertainty... Wondering if they were really going to go that direction... If boss and employee, super-villain and side-kick...were going to slip into the stereotype that she knew everyone assumed about them anyway, that most of the world assumed about any two people in their position.

His rage had subsided as they looked at each other hesitantly, waiting for the other to move first, waiting for permission... Until finally they had moved together, their lips connecting softly and innocently, the touch gentle and illuminating like the first warm ray of light from a sunrise.

The joy that had awoken in her in that moment was a precious memory that she would never forget. She often wondered if he had felt the same.

The innocence hadn't lasted long though as light turned to fire and anger to lust as they had stumbled to his bedroom in a tangle of limbs while they kissed, the war for power already underway. Not once did they try to hurt the other, but used passion as their weapon as they each sought to control their flight together into ecstasy.

No occasion since then had been like it, nor did she think there ever would be. It had been a different kind of communication, as they had acted on the hope of love without any assurance or promise.

They had barely known each other.

They still didn't, she thought sadly. It was only the crisis that had forced them closer together in the last couple of months... Had it really been that long? And even when they had recently talked of their feelings they had been awkward and uncertain.

And now he was distant and angry.

She set her hands on her belly again. She selfishly hoped it was that first time, and not the second, that the baby had been conceived. But there was really no way of knowing, unless there was some medical test that could show for sure. If there was, she didn't know about it, and she doubted Drakken did either.

Maybe he did... But even if not, it couldn't hurt to ask. And the night before...when she told him the baby had moved, she was sure she saw him crying. Maybe this could be an open door to bringing him back from whatever nightmare he was currently living.

She cinched her robe tighter and put on her slippers, then left her room and headed toward the kitchen for breakfast. She needed to get her weight back up, especially for the baby's sake.

When she got there, she remembered from the day before that they had run out of her protein bars. She hadn't opened the fridge in days since Drakken wasn't cooking for her, and had stuck to microwaved frozen meals the rest of the time which were also running low. She supposed another shopping trip was in her near future.

She opened the fridge to see if there was anything easy she could make...and came face to face with a whole flat of strawberries.

She hadn't bought strawberries.

Just then she heard Drakken's familiar step as he entered the kitchen, and she closed the fridge door.

"Dr. D., how did we get strawberries?"

He jumped slightly when she spoke, clearly not having expected to find her there. He looked nervous for just a moment before his face fell into a familiar frown...though not quite as angry and bitter as it had been.

"I forgot to tell you. I recalled the henchmen yesterday. They bought them."

_'The henchmen don't shop for us...'_

"...Did they also get my protein bars?"

Drakken's brow furrowed. "No."

Shego grimaced slightly and opened the fridge again. There was maybe a swallow of milk left which she would leave for him, some apples and celery in the crisper, and a near-empty jar of pickles.

She closed the door and frowned.

"If they were shopping for us why didn't they get anything but strawberries?"

Drakken's scowl deepened, but Shego found it didn't bother her so much as she worried now about the baby's development. When several seconds passed and he didn't answer, Shego scoffed and turned to go back to her room.

"Okay, just...make me a list and I'll go shopping. We have to eat more than strawberries."

"Shego!"

She turned around, frowning at the partly-angry, partly-affronted look on his face.

"You can't just... What if I need your help in the lab today?"

"Your kid's gotta eat a consistent and healthy diet," she retorted, pointing at her belly.

Drakken's anger slowly faded into irritation and several seconds later he swallowed nervously.

"Fine."

Shego turned again to go get dressed.

"I'll be ready in five minutes."

* * *

When Shego got back to the kitchen, respirator in hand, Drakken was still scribbling out the shopping list. As he saw her approaching she noticed his jaw set more firmly and his eyes darken.

"Shego...I don't want you to go out. I want you helping me in the lab today."

"Uh...hello?" Shego said, gesturing broadly at her abdomen. She crossed her arms and scoffed, turning her back to him to lean against the kitchen island. She pinched her eyes shut in frustration with herself.

Why couldn't they just have a normal conversation? Was bickering all they were capable of?

"I'll send some of the henchmen to get groceries," he continued sternly.

Shego turned around. "You want the henchmen...buying _our_ food?"

Drakken blinked and pursed his lips. "No, not really. But I need your help in the lab."

"You haven't needed me since I went out and got your...monkeys and centrifuges and stuff. By the way, are you feeding the animals? They'll eat each other if you don't."

Drakken scowled. "Of course I'm feeding them! And I need you all the time, you're just never around."

Shego's teeth clenched together as she spoke. "I've been sitting in the lab for over a week doing nothing." She took a breath. "And I only started going down to the gym _because_ I was up here doing nothing."

"You don't make yourself useful when you're here," Drakken accused, leaning closer to her over the kitchen island. "You just sit in your chair...reading your fashion magazines and filing your nails."

"Um, excuse me?" she said with a glare, leaning towards him and dropping the respirator on the counter. She felt her body shake as her mind warned her to stop, but the words kept coming anyway. "I have handed you every tool... I have gone out and gotten every scrap of equipment... I even cleaned those disgusting Petri dishes for you—that's _hench_ -work! What more do you want from me?"

Drakken's glare darkened. "For you to care about someone other than yourself for a change!" he shouted.

Shego's brow shot up as he turned and crossed to the other end of the kitchen, harshly yanking open a cupboard.

"Tell me when exactly in the last two months, I have done even one thing for myself," she spat at him.

Apparently not finding what he wanted, he slammed the cupboard closed. He turned back to her sharply with his teeth bared. "How about when you kept me trapped in bed when I was perfectly healthy, and wouldn't let me into the lab, and wouldn't let me work on a vaccine that could prevent millions of deaths? Explain to me how keeping me from doing what I wanted wasn't for you."

Shego crossed her arms. "Newsflash Doc, you aren't perfectly healthy." He proved her point by suddenly coughing into his elbow. "You almost died. And you seemed totally fine with accepting my judgment about everything."

She found herself shaking more with each word she spoke. She wanted to run from the room; to slow time down. He was spouting insanity and she needed to stop and try to figure out some way to get through to him. But he was already facing her again and leaning across the kitchen island.

"You didn't give me any choice! You forced me to disconnect from the whole world!"

Shego knew where the fight was going. Her heart pounded as she realized it was going to get much, much worse before it got better.

"'Disconnect'? We had the TV, my laptop, my cell phone, and there's a landline in your room. Just because _you_ didn't call—"

He snarled and reached for her across the counter, and she easily stepped back out of his reach. Her frown deepened as anger suddenly steamrolled over all her anxiety.

"You wouldn't let me do anything!" he was shouting at her as he started around the kitchen island.

"Drakken!" she growled, and punctuated her next words. "It's not...my...fault!"

He stopped short, his anger wavering as his lower lip trembled and sadness flashed through his eyes.

"If you had let me into the lab... If you didn't...try to control everything I do, and insult me, and make me feel inferior—"

"Are you for real right now?" she scoffed. "Did all that steam in the lab fog up your memory of the last two months? I did your laundry, I made your bed, I literally fed you...I even helped you bathe. You weren't even capable of _doing_ anything until a week ago. You would be dead right now if not for me!"

"Mother would be alive right now if not for _you!_ "

Shego held her ground in the face of his cold and absurd accusation. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain low on the right side of her abdomen. She gasped and clutched at the spot, her eyes going wide. All thoughts of the argument with Drakken left her mind.

_'No...'_

The fury in Drakken's eyes lifted as he watched her double over and grip the edge of the kitchen table for support. His expression morphed first into confusion and then into frightened revelation as he took a step back.

Shego's chest heaved as the sharp pain tore at her once more and tendrils of fear sank deep into her heart. She pushed herself up and hugged herself with one arm while her other hand still clutched protectively at her abdomen.

"Excuse me," she said quietly, barely glancing at Drakken as she quickly left the kitchen.

"Shego, I— Um. Do you...? Do you want—"

Her answer was to shoot a flaming green blast at his feet, stopping him where he had taken a step toward her. Scowling, she glanced up at his face. The concern that was now in his eyes was offensive to her, and with a grunt of disgust she ran from the room.

* * *

Shego lay on her back atop her bed and stared at the ceiling. The pain was gone, but its phantom remained as she clutched her abdomen and her whole body remained tense in fear.

She didn't know what to do. What if something was wrong?

Tears ran down the sides of her face and fell into her hair.

There was a knock at the door. Shego frowned and ignored it.

After a few seconds the knock came again. Shego closed her eyes tightly and bit the inside of her cheek. He was the last person she wanted to talk to. She would even take her brothers over him.

The knock sounded a third time and then she heard the door slide open. She opened her eyes and narrowed them on the blue face that was peeking inside.

"Go away," she said.

"Are you all right?"

She turned on her side so she wouldn't have to look at him. The gall of him to be concerned _now_ after treating her like trash for over a week... After everything he had said...

"How should I know?" she said bitterly.

"You should probably...um...go to a hospital."

An ironic grimace came over her face. "No."

She heard him step closer. "Why not?"

"Because I like to control everything," she said mockingly.

He stepped closer. "But...the baby..."

She sat up and faced him. "The baby you forgot about for the last week, while you've been busy blaming me for your mother's death?"

Pain and anger filled his eyes as his lower lip trembled. "If I had been in the lab working on a treatment instead of trapped in bed I could have saved her!"

"No, you couldn't. Dr. D...." She took a measured breath and pressed forward, firmly but gently. "She had been dead for weeks when we found her. Even if you had perfected some miracle cure... She probably died about the same time you got sick."

Shego saw the tears begin welling in his eyes in the second before he grunted in annoyance and started pacing the small confines of her room.

"You distracted me," he said weakly, "with all your...get-well treatments, and going and getting lost, and your...your female wiles."

Shego crossed her legs and watched him as he continued talking without actually addressing her, as if his words were a practiced litany designed for his own ears to hear.

"If you hadn't distracted me, I wouldn't have...I wouldn't have..."

Shego took a deep breath. "...You wouldn't have forgotten about her?"

His pacing stopped and his hands became trembling fists at his sides. His shoulders shook and his jaw clenched as his face contorted in pain. Shego stood and slowly approached him as she finally understood. It wasn't her that he blamed at all.

It was himself.

"Drakken."

He didn't look at her. She held her breath and took a chance.

"Drew," she said more gently. He slowly turned his face toward hers. She took another cautious breath. "It's not your fault. You didn't kill her. It's not your fault."

He sniffed once as tears rolled down his cheeks. All semblance of anger was gone as his eyes pleaded with her for help.

She stepped close enough to put her hand on his arm, and she pulled him gently and guided him to sit on her bed. After doing so he fell onto his side and turned his wet face into the blankets and began to sob. She sat down near his head and slowly stroked his hair.

"It's my fault," he cried.

The anguish in his voice tore at her, and again she put aside her own fears.

"No, it's not," she said softly, continuing to stroke his hair. She bent down to kiss his temple. "No it's not."

* * *

** Day 96 **

Drakken's grief looked much more like Shego had expected after that. Following the agony of the morning he gradually began coming back to the person she knew, the misplaced anger vanishing and being only occasionally replaced by anger toward himself. For the most part, it was clear...he was just in pain.

Shego had stayed in the lab with him, at his side instead of across the room, as his resolve to find either a cure or a vaccine increased. She worried as she watched him work. With every hour that passed he looked more and more haunted, and his efforts against the virus were frequently broken by crying spells mixed with coughing. She dutifully tended to him and didn't remind him once about what had begun tormenting her.

What if something was wrong with the baby?

She had almost brought it up that night when he asked her to bed with him. But the pain in his eyes silenced her. So she'd only held him close as he clung to her and cried himself to sleep. She was more alert to her own body than ever before as she worried and wondered... He fell asleep first and about an hour later she finally slipped into slumber with him, both of them emotionally exhausted.

Shego was the first to wake the next morning. They lay exactly as they had when falling asleep: on their sides, chests pressed tightly together and arms around each other's backs. His leg was up over her hip, and she had lain both of hers across his other.

Her left arm and left hip were stiff from laying on them all night, and her cheek hurt from where it rested atop his right arm. The tangle they were in had been a relief at first, but it was impractical for actual sleep.

She started to peel out of his tight embrace when suddenly, she felt a familiar flicking within her abdomen. Light and hope rose in her chest even as tears sprang to her eyes as she concentrated on the feather-light sensation.

"Drakken!" she said quietly. "Drakken!"

The blue man didn't budge, his face twisted in pain even in sleep. She cuddled closer to him again and felt the slowness of his heartbeat compared to hers.

"Drakken," she said, squeezing his shoulder. The flicking feeling stopped and his only response to her was to hum in displeasure and hold her tighter.

She sighed. "I wonder how that teddy bear survived so long..."

She pushed hard on his shoulders as she tried to extract herself from his grasp, but it only caused him to hold on tighter. She paused to catch her breath as she realized she had begun to sweat.

"Hmm..."

She set a hand on his chest between them and ignited it.

_'One... Two...'_

"Aaahhh!" he screamed and scrambled away from her, his hands batting at his chest as his eyes looked around in panic.

Shego leaned on her side and lifted her glowing hand as she smirked.

"Good morning."

"Shego!"

He frowned and continued wiping at the front of his pajama shirt even though there were no flames. An annoyed and concerned humming escaped his lips every few seconds that Shego found endearing.

A second later Drakken was knocked back on the mattress as Shego tackled him, her lips meeting his with a long hum of happiness.

"Shego..." he said again with less annoyance when she came up for air.

She watched as he lay his head back on the mattress and closed his eyes.

"My head hurts."

Her smirk softened. "I'll bet..."

"And my eyes and...my everything."

Shego rolled off of him and started re-arranging the pillows by the headboard. "Come here. Rest a bit longer."

"I need to get back to work..." he said, sadness creeping back into his eyes.

"Come here." She patted the mattress and then tugged on his arm. He relented and lay on his back, his head propped up by the pillows, and she cuddled into his side and lay her head on his chest. She reached across him for the TV remote atop the headboard.

_"...And adding to the growing list of celebrity deaths from the disease, renowned Japanese toy-maker Fusajiro Nakasumi passed away in the hospital early last night..."_

Drakken started at this, his brow furrowing, but he said nothing. Shego wondered why that announcement in particular seemed to move him.

They watched as a photo montage of various people of celebrity and eminence who had died played across the screen. When Señor Senior Sr.'s smiling face was displayed Shego felt a pang in her chest. Some of the other faces she recognized, but most she didn't as she kept her focus on the captions naming each person. She was looking to see if Brooks Leon would be among them, since Camille's commercials had stopped abruptly two weeks prior without any explanation.

Both she and Drakken jerked in surprise when a different name and face that was very familiar to them appeared on the screen: Dr. James Possible.

"Wow..." Shego breathed as she settled against Drakken's chest again. She looked up at him and saw a great muddle of surprise, resentment, and melancholy on his face. "He's...he was...your age, wasn't he?"

"Yes," Drakken said, the resentment fading out of his eyes.

As she continued to watch him, all the other apparent emotions subsided to give way to his growing melancholy. He closed his eyes tightly and began rubbing his temples. Shego realized that a tableau of death was the last thing he needed to be watching, and she grabbed the remote and changed the channel.

_"...And while violent crime is down, there has been a marked increase in petty theft and perhaps most shockingly, an increase in domestic terrorism..."_

This perked both she and Drakken up as they listened to the report of the expected decrease in murders and car accidents, but the increase in burglary, bank robberies, and hold-ups at gas stations and grocery outlets. There were detailed reports about terrorist groups who were deliberately spreading the infection, some targeting health officials, peace officers and politicians, while others were motivated by hate and targeted particular ethnic or religious communities.

"This is insane..." Shego said, sitting up. It was one thing to steal food, drink, and toilet paper. But to deliberately spread a world-ending virus? When you weren't a super-villain with a cure ready to disperse at will after your demands had been met?

"I have to get back to work."

Shego decided that was her least-favorite assemblage of words in the English language.

_"...And internationally, relief to the suffering and unemployed has been put on hold as various groups are bargaining and pushing their political agendas..."_

Drakken tossed the blankets back and climbed out of bed. She let herself fall to the mattress in frustration as she watched him. He paused to cough into his elbow before going straight for his wardrobe.

"Dr. D.? Will you be all right here if I go out for groceries?"

He paused and turned back, looking a bit afraid. "Um..."

"We can't just eat strawberries. And they'd go bad before we could finish them all anyway."

His brow furrowed as he clearly remembered the strange sight in the fridge from the morning prior.

"Henchmen can't do anything right..." he muttered.

Shego climbed out of the bed and hugged herself, suddenly chilly despite her long-sleeved pajamas. "So...you'll be okay? I can call you, or...you can call me, you know, whenever."

Drakken took a step away from the wardrobe toward her. "I'll come with you."

Shego peered at him. "Thought you had to work?"

Drakken looked torn. After a moment he glanced away.

Shego stepped closer to him. "It's really important to you to figure this out, huh?"

He sighed through his nose. "It was always important. But...now, I..."

His eyes saddened and she set her hand on his arm.

"Take a break. Come shopping with me."

* * *

After going to five stores across two islands, they had everything except toilet paper. Shego was packing the last of their purchases into the trunk of the hover-car, glancing at Drakken all the while who had been looking more and more distant and despondent throughout the excursion. Now he stood a few feet from the hover-car looking at the near-empty parking lot outside the Everything-A-Dollar store.

"Wanna try one more for T.P. or call it a day, Doc?" she asked. She was feeling very tired, and also had one more destination in mind before they returned to the lair.

He didn't answer.

"Doc?"

"It's...as if some natural disaster, or...nuclear catastrophe occurred..." he murmured, still staring at the parking lot. The only other person in sight was a respirator-wearing elderly man putting groceries into his car.

Shego closed the trunk and leaned against the hover-car, crossing her arms. "Some conspiracy theorists have been talking apocalypse."

"It's not..." Drakken said absently.

"Well, I know that."

Drakken didn't answer, and she stepped up next to him. He seemed to shake himself out of a thought, though his eyes were still sad and thoughtful.

"So toilet paper?" she asked.

"No... I'll start sending the henchmen out in shifts to find some. Let's go home."

He turned and walked back to the hover-car, hopping into the driver's seat.

"Actually, Doc..." She took a nervous breath. "I think you were right yesterday."

He turned to look at her, his brow raised in question.

"I want to go to the hospital."

* * *

Three hospitals turned them away. They didn't have the disease (they had lied) so the hospital simply didn't have the time or resources for them. Not even for a first-time pregnant woman worried something was wrong with her child.

They were headed back to the lair, Drakken casting worried glances in Shego's direction while she silently fumed, tears stinging her eyes.

"Land in that park over there," she said suddenly. "I need some air."

Shego hopped out of the car before the ignition was off and shivered. There was a breeze and the sky was overcast that day. She zipped up her jacket and hugged herself to fight the chill.

Since they were villains out in public during a time when people were panicking irrationally, they hadn't dressed in their normal raiment. They were similarly attired in jeans, t-shirts, and leather jackets, the main difference being that her jacket was a black double-rider and his a dark brown bomber. They had also donned their gloves and boots.

"Shego?"

"Let's walk," she said. She started down the paved path in the park without giving him a glance. He caught up to her a moment later.

She couldn't believe that no hospital would see her, not even for an ultrasound. She understood that every medical facility everywhere was overworked, overfilled, and running out of supplies... But it was her baby's life.

After a moment she felt Drakken's hand steal shyly into hers. She looked up at him gratefully and leaned her head against his shoulder.

A cough suddenly sprang out of Drakken's chest. They stopped walking as it became worse, and he grabbed her arm for support as he endured the familiar, painful process. Shego brought her own elbow to her face to cough once as she watched him. Being out in the wind was probably not good for getting any remaining virus out of their systems.

"Shego?"

Drakken's voice was raspy as he finished coughing and straightened back up. His eyes were downturned and his expression sad. He turned to face her and set both hands on her shoulders.

"I... I'm sorry, I..." He grit his teeth and looked away.

She understood. She lifted her hands to rest on his shoulders.

"You were a jerk. But I already forgave you."

He looked back. He seemed to want to say more, but the sadness in his eyes was claiming dominance over anything else. She slipped her arms around him and moved in close.

"It's okay to hurt," she said, rubbing his back.

He took in a shaky breath and closed his eyes, the pain he was still in very apparent. She tilted her chin up and kissed him, gentle and reassuring. He responded with more fervor than she expected and was surprised to find his arms around her a moment later, holding her tight and almost lifting her off the ground as he kissed her back.

"Hey!"

A male voice caused Shego to break away and turn around in the direction the sound had come from. There was a man, younger than her, who had paused on his bicycle and was smirking at her and Drakken.

"Get a room!"

Shego growled. Her first instinct was to blast the man and his ridiculous racing bike, but...she decided instead to do something to try to boost Drakken's mood.

"We already did," she smirked, tucking herself back against Drakken and stroking his jaw.

The man laughed and didn't ride away, surprising Shego. Most hecklers were cowards. She glanced up at Drakken, who was regarding the stranger with curiosity.

"You know there's gonna be a huge baby boom next year," the man said.

Shego's smirk faded. "...No doubt."

"You're the first people I've seen today."

Shego's sliver of good humor was gone. She put her arms around Drakken again. "Yeah, and we don't wanna be seen, so...go look for someone else as crazy as you are to annoy. And remember to keep your social distance."

The man looked uncertain.

"Not joking. Get lost," Shego said.

The man frowned and looked almost hurt as he quickly pedaled away. Shego sighed heavily as they were left alone again, their only companion the rustling of the leaves in the wind.

"...I think...he was just lonely," Drakken said after a moment.

"I don't care," Shego said, her arms tightening around him. She rested her head against his chest as tears returned to her eyes. She shivered, and Drakken held her closer.

"If you want...we could always _make_ a hospital see you," Drakken suggested.

She took a long, slow breath as she considered. "No..."

She closed her eyes and concentrated on the feel of him. Familiar...and yet still not safe enough. Not the way she was longing for.

"Dr. D.?" She looked up at him, and he met her questioning eyes. "Why do you want to save the world?"

His brow furrowed.

"I mean, after...after your mom, it makes sense. A sort of vengeance against the disease, but...you wanted to stop it long before that. You cared about it before anyone else did.

Drakken cast his gaze slowly over the empty park, his expression sad. He took a shallow breath.

"The world...has always been against me. For as long as I can remember, it...they were against me. No one had a kind word to offer, or a helping hand... No one except—"

She felt his breath catch, and she held him tighter as he pinched his eyes shut and shook his head.

"But, even though they all hate me... A world without people just seems wrong. This..." he gestured loosely at the park, "is what it will be like, if it isn't stopped."

Shego looked at his conflicted, haunted expression as he stared again at the empty park. The wind blew harsher and she pulled in closer to him.

"Easier to conquer?" she suggested.

"I just don't want millions of people to die! Especially if...I can do something to stop it. I'm sure I can."

His breaths were coming more heavily as he scowled at the emptiness around them. She rose up on her toes so they were at eye-level and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"D-don't say it," he said, looking away in bitter embarrassment. "I know."

"So...maybe not quite as evil dictator and... _mad_ scientist as you pretend to be. Maybe."

"Maybe not."

He looked down sadly. A silent sob escaped his lips, and then he coughed into her shoulder. She gently rubbed the back of his neck.

"I love you, even if you're not as evil as you...as you want to be."

He looked up at her. "Why?"

She felt a nervous clenching at her chest. _'Why?'_ The last time she had tried answering it hadn't gone well. She closed her eyes and set her face against his. She thought of every moment over the past few years that had made her walk through the doors of his lab instead of onto a plane headed for a Mediterranean resort.

"I love...your passion, and your confidence... Your creativity, and your innovation... Your singing."

She opened her eyes and pulled back. He was staring at her.

"I love your drive, and...and your viciousness," she continued, rubbing his jaw. "And your innocence," she said with a slight chuckle. She leaned in close to his ear to whisper. "I love hearing you talk..."

His hands slid up her back and his fingers dug into her shoulders. She leaned back to look at him again, feeling even more anxious as he stared at her.

"And...whoever Drew Lipsky was...and is, I...want to know him more. Because I already love him, too."

She felt Drakken's hot breath a split second before his lips were on hers. His kiss was fierce, and he held her so tight that her feet left the ground. He stumbled under both of their weight. But she found her feet and kissed him back, knowing that this time...he believed her.

But something still felt like it was missing.

She pulled out of the kiss and his lips immediately moved to her cheek, and then to her neck. She felt her knees go weak and she clung to him.

"Drakken..." she breathed.

He didn't answer but to continue kissing her neck.

"Why do you love me?"

He slowly pulled away to look at her, and she tried to find balance on her trembling legs. When she focused on his face he looked nervous.

"You're beautiful," he said. "And smart. And a leader... When I don't have the answers, you do. You're always...you're always the missing puzzle piece. And..." He looked down, his eyes growing frustrated. "I'm sorry, I'm...not as articulate as you are."

She lifted his chin with her fingers and smiled at him gently. "Keep talking."

"I... I just know that...when you're gone, it feels like...life is a giant hamster wheel that doesn't go anywhere. But I want to...to _do_ things, when you're with me! When you're with me...everything comes alive. I... I come alive. And..." his gaze fell again, "I'm happy."

She softly caressed his jaw and smiled at him. He looked up at her worriedly.

"Shego? I'm really sorry about...about everything I—"

"I told you," she interrupted. "I already forgave you."

"I..." He looked into her eyes anxiously, shyly. "I love you, Shego."

She set her face against his and lightly kissed his cheek before moving her lips over his. "I love you, Dr. D."

She felt her knees weaken again as he kissed her, all the love he had just spoken and more in the passionate touch. She melted into him as his lips caressed hers, her heart swelling with light and love and completion and everything else she hadn't known she was dreaming of.

And then...

"Ow!!"

She was suddenly alone, stumbling for balance on her shaking legs and gasping for air. She looked up to see Drakken batting at a green flame on his shoulder.

She looked at her hands. They were alight.

"Oh..." she managed as she tried to catch her breath.

Drakken had put out the flame on his jacket, and they looked at each other in surprise and uncertainty. Drakken began to look annoyed and hurt.

"Why did you do that?"

"I didn't," Shego answered, shaking her head.

Understanding came to Drakken's eyes, and then a measure of trepidation.

"Is that...going to happen a lot?" he asked.

Shego shook her head again. "I don't know... It's never happened before?"

Her hands were still surrounded by the bright, green glow. She was stunned as it took her a moment to remember how to stop it.

"Let's go home?" she said. The flames finally dissipated, but she felt an indescribable urge to light them again.

"Okay," Drakken said, reaching his hand toward her. Shego cautiously placed her hand in his. The walk back to the hover-car was silent, as Shego found herself having to focus to keep her powers at bay.

After climbing into the car she sank back heavily in the passenger seat and held her hands out in front of her. After a moment, she let go of her wavering control and let them ignite, staring at them in fascination. The release of energy felt necessary.

Drakken started the car and looked at her with that same questioning and a hint of distrust.

"So. Um... You don't...know why that happened?" he asked as he lifted the car off the ground.

She turned and to look at him and shook her head. But a moment later amusement was turning up the corners of her mouth, and she shrugged.

"You're a good kisser."


	2. Chapter 2

** Day 102 **

Shego walked into the lab followed by a trail of henchmen pushing pallets loaded with glass cages, construction materials, and biomechanical equipment.

"Yo, Dr. D.?" she called out to get his attention.

He was standing in front of the computer with his hands on his hips. Added to the usual graphs and computation programs was a small square in the top left corner playing a newscast. The line on the graph in the bottom lower corner—the one Shego had learned weeks ago to pay attention to—was not climbing quite as sharply as it had been.

"It's mind-boggling how many countries claim that others are overreacting, until suddenly their own infection rate is in the thousands," he muttered.

"Dr. D.?"

"Why can't they just learn from other people's mistakes!?"

Shego pointed the henchmen toward a corner that was void of equipment or experiments and then crossed the room to stand at Drakken's side.

"What's that say?" she squinted at the graph. "Over 100,000?"

"Closing in on one hundred twenty..." he scowled. He finally turned to her and looked over her appearance critically. "Why are you wearing that?"

Drakken was in his lab coat, and while the lost weight aged his appearance he had regained enough strength to be working his 'regular' hours again. And his 'overtime' hours. She had tried to put a stop to the latter but more often than not she went to bed alone and woke up alone, determined as he had become to stop the virus.

As for Shego's attire, she never went in for casual Friday or casual-any-day if they were seriously working on something. But that day she wore stretch pants, a t-shirt, and a light jacket.

"My suit is too tight," she explained quietly with a slight frown.

"What do you—?"

She had placed her hands over her belly, and Drakken halted his question. He pursed his lips slightly before turning back to the computer.

The baby was the last thing they seemed to be failing to communicate about. Shego hadn't felt the pain again that had occurred almost a week prior, but it hadn't stopped her worrying day and night. She knew Drakken was worried too, but the combined factors of crime increasing worldwide, governments locking down and forcing citizens to stay in their homes, and the hospitals turning them away seemed to have him at a loss as to what to do.

And Drakken feeling hopeless was Drakken not communicating. Or else, he was whining non-stop. But this wasn't a failed world-domination plan...

It had been another night and morning alone. Whether he had gone to bed at all or stayed in the lab all night, Shego didn't know. She wanted to lean into him, but she also didn't want to risk him just walking away. Instead, she talked about work.

"We've got the next load of stuff for your experiments. Where do you want it all set up?"

Drakken turned and looked for the first time at all the equipment being brought in. "Oh...yes, against that wall is fine. I'll get the blueprints..."

Drakken walked over to his workbench and Shego sat in the chair and stared up at the computer. Over 100,000 deaths...while devastating, wasn't as bad as what she remembered him originally predicting by that point. She looked at the chart that was largest on the screen that he had been staring at when she walked in.

That chart had too many lines on it that all started and ended in different places, and they were all in bi-colored pairs. Each pair had a flag of a country as identification. Most of the lines were rising in a curve that she knew represented an exponential formula, but about four pairs had the curve changing angle and not rising so steeply near the very tops of the lines.

"Dr. D., what does this mean?" she asked, glancing back over her shoulder.

He was standing near the far wall pointing at an empty space on the floor, while two of the henchmen were holding a large blueprint in front of them. Others were bringing in more equipment and removing it from the pallets.

"Hey, Doc?"

He didn't hear her, so she rose and headed back toward the corner of the lab. The workbench was covered in various papers, Petri dishes, and test tubes lined up in racks. She knew he was preparing to test a vaccine, hence the arrival of the glass cages; the monkeys and mice that the henchmen had been tending since they returned were going to be moved into the lab for the trials.

Shego wondered how one person could possibly do it. She would need to convince Drakken to let some of the henchmen prove they were more than just muscles, or else he might literally work himself to death. And given his diminished state, she didn't think that would take very long.

"...And label them A through K," Drakken said to the man holding the blueprints. Another man who looked far too scrawny for the profession he'd chosen approached Drakken nervously.

"Excuse me, Dr. Drakken?" The man's speech sounded like he'd been hit in the head too many times. "You really think you're gonna find a cure for this thing?"

Drakken grimaced. "Not a cure, but...a vaccine. To prevent others from getting it."

The henchman looked up at him with surprising earnest. "My kid sister died."

Drakken's brow rose, and Shego moved past them and toward the opposite corner. The mice had already been moved in and the cage was sitting against the wall by the back door.

"But...the disease isn't as harmful to youth?" Drakken asked.

"Yeah... But Katie had diabetes, same as me."

"Nn... What was your name again?"

"It's Phil, Dr. Drakken."

Drakken set a hand on the man's shoulder, causing all activity in the room to stop.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Phil."

The henchman looked down sadly, but then up with hope in his eyes. "It would have been me too, if you hadn't ordered us to stay in our rooms. I knew she was sick and I wanted to go home, but...you told us to stay locked up. You saved my life."

Shego leaned against the wall near the mouse cage and watched the odd exchange.

"Mm. Well..." Drakken said, drawing his hand back and fidgeting a bit. "Together we shall stop this evil and give hope back to the world."

_'Together? Hope? Stop evil?'_

Drakken had raised a fist in triumph and had a weak smile on his face. The henchmen looked at each other uncomfortably, and then resumed their work. The one Shego now knew was Phil headed toward the back door with a much larger Italian man whose name she didn't know. They nodded at her as they passed.

"Phil, I didn't know you had a sister?" the larger man said.

"I never mentioned her 'cause she went to school with Kim Possible, and I thought the boss would get mad. But I guess he wants to save the world now too..."

Shego peered after the men for a moment as they exited the lab. She glanced at Drakken who had a definite look of disquiet on his face as he continued telling the henchmen what to do.

Beyond wanting to stop the virus, he still hadn't defined himself.

Shego sighed and glanced down...and then saw something odd.

"Hey Dr. D.? One of your mice is dead."

This, of all things, finally got his attention. He left the mass of glass cages and equipment, glancing at her with a frown before peering down to where she pointed into the large cage.

Right in the center of the wood shavings lay a dead white mouse that had clearly been dead for some time. It was little more than fur, a tail, and eye-sockets. Its form was semi-collapsed in on itself as it had been left to decompose naturally and none of its liquids remained.

The other mice didn't seem to bother about it, one of them running atop it as if it was just part of the environment. Shego opened the cage and reached in, scooping up the near-weightless thing into her hand along with a few shavings.

"I'll go flush it," she said. "This one was probably dead when I bought these. Sorry about tha—"

"No!"

Shego almost dropped the dead mouse as Drakken grabbed her shoulders harshly, staring at the dead rodent in her hand in horror. She narrowed her eyes at him and jerked out of his hold.

"What's got into you?"

"You can't just flush it! It needs a...a proper burial," he declared, raising a finger in the air and looking solemn.

Shego blinked. "It's a test mouse."

"It was a living thing, Shego! It can't be ignored, or forgotten just because it was...because it was one of many!"

Shego kept blinking at him as he paced now in a small circle in front of her.

"It's a mouse."

Drakken turned and folded his hands behind his back, walking away from her. "You give the eulogy, and I can..."

Shego stopped listening. She left through the back door and headed down the stairs to the henchmen's quarters.

_'One... Two... Three...'_

These were the things about him that she wasn't terribly attracted to. When he did things that _literally_ made no sense, and then kept at them even when presented with every logical argument against them.

_'Seven... Eight...'_

A door slammed above her.

"Shego!"

_'What took him so long?'_

She had reached the bottom of the stairs and begun crossing the very small living space that belonged to the henchmen, heading toward their public restroom. The off-duty men stared at her in a mixture of fear and fascination as she moved across the room at a brisk pace, Drakken's light and inelegant step growing closer on the stairs behind her.

"Shego! Don't you dare—"

She stepped into the restroom just as he reached the landing, the door swinging closed behind her. He ran inside just in time to hear the flush, and she was knocked against the wall of the narrow stall as he pushed in with her and stared in dismay at the swirling waters inside the toilet bowl.

"Nnghh! Why did you do that!?" he shouted into her face.

She glared at him. "It was a dead mouse."

He had no response, and after a moment she pushed against his chest.

"Can you move? It smells in here."

He backed out of the stall and she left the restroom with him fuming and following close behind her. She re-crossed the small living space without a glance at the henchmen and began climbing the stairs.

"It was a living thing!" Drakken finally said.

"It was a dead thing."

"Ngh...it _used_ to be living! Living things are important, Shego!"

"Suddenly that matters to you? You didn't care when it was all the fish in the Great Lakes."

He paused, caught. "That was... Nyeh... None of them died!"

Shego scoffed. "Just your luck the weather machine had a built-in system for protecting them. You didn't actually care," she tossed over her shoulder as she reached a turn in the stairwell.

"Nnh... Well...things are different now!"

Scowling, Shego turned abruptly as he stomped up the stairs. "Would you stop shouting at me?"

The irritation in his eyes vanished as his jaw worked silently for a moment before stammering a few random syllables of excuse.

Shego frowned and turned back up the stairs. She was so tired.

"You're gonna kill most of them during your experiments," she said. "All those monkeys too. I don't see what the big deal is."

She heard Drakken's step slowing behind her. When she reached the lab she glanced at where the henchmen were trying to decipher Drakken's blueprints, and then headed back to the computer. She dropped into the chair and leaned back and stared at the over-bright screen. Drakken had caught up and was behind her again.

"I'll concede that for the greater goo— For the greater _cause_ some sacrifices will be necessary."

Shego spun the chair half-around to smirk at him. "Pretty evil of you Doc."

He frowned. "But living things _do_ matter, Shego! Like...what's-his-name's sister, and...your young friend Junior's father, and..."

Shego turned fully around. "We weren't talking about them. We were talking about a mouse. You wanted to have a _funeral_ for a mouse."

He turned and stormed toward the workbench as he shouted. "I just don't think the dead should be discarded!"

Shego watched his retreating back as understanding started to come. It had nothing to do with the mouse, or with Senior or even the henchman's sister. It had to do with his mother, and the funeral that never was.

She had made the call to the police once they were safely back in the hover-car. She'd said she was a burglar who found someone she thought died of the disease and so was too scared to stick around. And then they had hovered far overhead, waiting until the police arrived. She watched through binoculars and confirmed for Drakken that everything was being taken care of while he cried inconsolably.

The phone rang later that day in the lair, with the call for Drew Lipsky because he was identified as 'next of kin.' With more composure than she thought he could have managed he told them that he had the disease too and was self-isolating, and to go ahead and bury her. That she shouldn't have to wait for him.

The real reason of course, was that super-villains at large couldn't go to funerals. Especially when they were the chief mourners and couldn't hide in a crowd.

Then the coroner had asked if he just wanted her cremated, since there wouldn't be a funeral. He managed to say 'buried' before breaking down in tears again, and Shego had had to give his apologies and make the rest of the arrangements. And so Mama Lipsky was buried next to her late husband alone on a cold day in March, with no mourners and no obituary, just another statistic lost to the disease.

Shego looked at Drakken bending over the workbench and scribbling notes about something in a test tube before loading the small vessel into a centrifuge with several others. She considered bringing the topic up... But she was tired of playing psychiatrist. She would if she really needed to, however...

She had her own problems.

"Dr. D.?" she called out after a minute, absently laying her hands on her belly. He turned and looked at her suspiciously, and she lifted one hand to point to the screen. "What does this mean?"

He walked over and looked up to where she pointed, hands on his hips.

"That charts the number of cases identified with the number of deaths for each country, all tracked in real time."

He typed a few commands on the keyboard and the graph then took up the entire screen. Shego leaned back to take it in and looked at the similarities of each curve.

"They're all pretty much the same, except for the starting dates," she commented.

"Mm. You'd think they'd learn," he muttered.

She pressed forward with the seemingly-neutral topic. "What do you mean?"

He stepped closer to point at the screen. "Well, you see these countries here that didn't reach a point of crisis until recently? They had the examples of all these others," he gestured toward the back of the graph and the earlier dates, "showing what happens if you don't take this seriously, so what do they do?"

"...They..."

"They aren't taking it seriously! Just these few here," he pointed to some very shallow curves, "have shown any common sense at all."

"...I thought you were studying robotics in college, Doc?"

"Robotics and chemistry. Double-major."

Her brow rose and she nodded. Not that it explained his sudden actuarial bent and apparent medical and biomechanical knowledge.

"They saw that the virus had entered their ranks," he continued, "and imposed a quarantine. And it's no surprise whatsoever that their rate of spread is far slower than everyone else who thought that one or two cases didn't matter. They'll still suffer like the rest of the world, but with potentially far less death."

Shego wondered where he was getting his information, but decided not to ask. The explanation of the chart was already a bit more than she wanted to be thinking about. She moved on to a different distraction.

"Okay. So how about this vaccine test?" she asked, slowly spinning around toward where the henchmen were building everything according to Drakken's blueprints.

Drakken rubbed his hands together and started toward the workbench.

"Ah! I have one viable candidate now with three more possibilities based on what I assume might happen. But it's all in theory only."

"Assuming, Doc? You know what happens when you assume—"

He turned to her with an expectant but anxious look that halted her words.

"But, what I really need for better results...are more tissue samples."

Her brow rose.

"All of the henchmen will volunteer, of course—"

"Capitalizing on the 'mad scientist' bit of this to save the world," she interrupted.

He scowled and rubbed his forehead for a moment before looking back. "Yes, well. It's not the first time my sanity has been questioned."

Her brow shot up again.

"So..." he cautiously beckoned her toward him, "if I could just...get a few samples?"

Something in his eyes gave her pause as he spoke. And in a flash she made the mental leap from the surface of what he saying to what he might actually be asking of her.

"You're not hurting the baby!" she cried, jumping out of the chair and backing away from him.

His eyes widened in horror. "No! No, I wouldn't! ...I mean...it _would_ be useful, but I—"

She lit up her hands and backed away in fright. The idea that he would invade her womb and use their unborn child as a test subject for his obsession, when who knew if he had any _real_ medical knowledge at all...

"Stay back!"

"Shego, I wasn't going to—!"

"Get away from me!" she hissed, backing toward the door and holding her hands up in warning. "You don't...you don't care about protecting life at all!"

"Shego—!"

He had started toward her more quickly, and she did a back handspring well out of his reach and landed near the door. She peripherally took in the stunned and unmoving henchmen as they watched the exchange between their boss and his side-kick. Drakken stopped his advance and stared at her in shock, his eyes pleading. Shego swallowed nervously as she stared at him. Her eyes flew to the corner as she heard the henchmen begin murmuring amongst themselves.

_"Whoa... Shego's knocked up?"_

_"I thought she and the boss hated each other?"_

_"Who says it's his?"_

Shego looked back at Drakken who looked utterly dismayed. She took a breath. Maybe...she had jumped to conclusions... Maybe—

A sudden sharp pain on the lower-right side of her abdomen had her gripping the door frame for support as a soft cry escaped her lips.

"Shego!" Drakken said in panic, starting toward her.

Lips trembling and tears filling her eyes, she turned and fled the lab.

_'This can't happen... It can't!'_

"Shego!"

She ran past the kitchen and down the hall toward her room, but then stopped abruptly outside his door. She had been spending all her nights there again. She needed somewhere to hide, to process everything, but...he would find her no matter where she went.

"Shego!"

She froze as he rounded the corner and stopped, staring at her as he took a second to cough and catch his breath.

"Get away!" she growled, lighting her hands again.

He shook his head fiercely, his eyes filled with fear. "Shego, I wouldn't...I would never use the baby."

"You want tissue samples, then use your own body!"

"I have," he said.

Another sharp pain, not quite as intense, erupted in her abdomen and she leaned back against the wall as tears fell down her face.

_'No, no, no!'_

"It's not invasive. Just some blood samples, and cell samples from the cheek, and skin and hair... It... _would_ be useful to have cells from inside your...your..."

She glanced at him in anger as he gestured toward his own abdomen with his face flushing lightly. He took a cautious step forward.

"But I don't...know how to do that safely. And even if I did, I wouldn't touch the baby!"

"You don't even care about it!" she spat as she sank lower on the wall and held her abdomen where the pain was. It wasn't subsiding as quickly this time.

"What?" Drakken said as he slowly came closer.

"You don't care about the baby! You never ask, and you never want to talk about it when I do, and you never...you hardly even acknowledge it! It's like you forget it exists until I say something! And now, you're still just talking about your idiotic experiments!"

He looked appropriately reproached as she glared at him, stopping about six feet away from her. He hung his head.

Tears still fell down her cheeks as she stared at him in anger. Didn't he know how much his inattention... _hurt?_ After several seconds she saw his shoulders shake once...and then again as his breaths became more halted.

"Oh sure, start crying _now_ like you did about a dead mouse."

"I did not cry about a dead mouse!" He looked up briefly, revealing the tears in his eyes. "I..."

She closed her eyes and slid lower against the wall, feeling the pressure of everything coming over her. It was too much, too fast. And why wouldn't he help her?

"If I love it too much..." Drakken began. Shego turned and peered at him. "If I love it too much," he repeated, "and then...if we lose it..."

He took one of his gloves off and set his face in his hand as he began to sniffle. It was too much for Shego. She slid the rest of the way down to the hall floor and set her face on her knees and cried.

He was right. The baby was all she could think about, and yet she couldn't bear to think about it for fear of the unknown. What was the pain she felt? Why did it happen when it did? What did it mean?

And there was nothing she could do to answer any of the questions. She was trapped. Trapped inside the lair by a disease that had enslaved the entire world, and trapped inside her mind with nothing but increasingly tragic reports about the failing state of life as she knew it.

Her steady life had been ripped from her months ago and any hold she had on its tattered pieces was slipping farther and farther out of reach with each passing day. The slivers of hope and joy she had found that might lend to weaving a new life were still constantly threatened by the disease, and even as they seemed to grow closer—

The pain erupted in her side again.

—she was losing sight of them.

She startled suddenly as a hand rested heavily on her shoulder, and another gently pushed her hair back from her face. She looked up into Drakken's red-rimmed eyes, his gaze woeful but determined. He reached for her face to wipe her tears, but she jerked away from him.

"...You're going to the hospital. They'll see you whether they like it or not," he said.

She dropped her gaze and nodded slowly. She couldn't do it anymore. She couldn't pretend and distract herself with his embrace, or with his work, and she couldn't hold him up when her own recesses of strength were failing.

"You...get in the hover-car, and I'll go tell the henchmen we'll be out."

Shego slowly stood, his arm supporting her as she gripped her abdomen. The pain was starting to fade...

A patter of footsteps drew their eyes toward the end of the hall where a plainclothes henchman suddenly appeared, grinning brightly as he held two greatly oversized shopping bags in each hand.

"Hey Boss! I found toilet paper!"

* * *

The pain had gone almost as quickly as it had come, just like the last time. But that did nothing to ease Shego's worries. The hover-car ride was spent in near silence as she sank deeper into her fear, now that they would finally know. Knowing was more terrifying than not knowing, she discovered... Because if something really _was wrong..._

Drakken had fed into the silence with ease. Whenever Shego glanced at him, his eyes were sinking into that same haunted horror that had overtaken him after his mother's death. And she sympathized. It was still just two weeks since they had found her, after all.

She ached for his comfort even while being furious at him for his disregard of her and the baby. But he was already suffering the loss of one love of his life. She didn't know and wouldn't pretend to understand what it must feel like. But to face the fear of losing another love, so soon...

She couldn't be too mad at him for his distance, or his apparent lack of interest. She understood. And she believed what he'd said, about the tests and the tissue samples. He was...he was smarter than that.

He did care about other people now.

She wondered if it was like she had said before, if he wasn't in fact as 'mad scientist' and 'evil dictator' as he'd been pretending to be. If this _hero_ -Drakken who had thrown himself into a one-man war against a deadly, world-ending disease turned out to be the person he truly was...

Would it matter?

But, there wasn't time to think about that. They were landing at the hospital.

Several threats backed by green burning plasma later found them inside an exam room, Drakken pacing worriedly and Shego lying on a slightly inclined exam table. She was trying to lock up the fear—ready to think rationally, practically, and prepare for whatever eventuality when the doctor returned from delivering her blood tests and could give some answers. But Drakken's now very-apparent worry wasn't helping.

"Would you hold still?" she whispered, as if they could be heard through the walls.

"What?" he asked, his eyes coming into focus.

She opened her mouth to speak again, but then there was a soft knock at the door. It opened to reveal the very anxious-looking but kind-eyed and clean-cut doctor who had been attending to her.

"Well," the man cleared his throat, "by the time we're done here we should have an analysis of your blood work."

"No you won't," Shego said with a small grimace. The doctor looked confused, and Shego lifted a hand and ignited it. "You'll never figure it out. Just find out what you _need_ to know about...the baby."

She let the glow diminish and set her hand back on her abdomen. The doctor pulled at his collar nervously.

"Ah. Well...let's do your ultrasound now and see what's inside."

Shego felt her heartbeat quicken. The taking of various fluid samples had been tedious, the answering of questions routine... Now...they would finally know something.

"You really should have come in sooner, with a baby this old," the doctor continued, some of his fear fading as he focused on his task, spreading the warm gel low across her abdomen.

"How old is it?"

The doctor gestured toward her tiny bump. "At least twelve weeks, considering we can see the little one. But we can probably narrow it down. Can you remember when your last period was?"

Shego shook her head. "No, but...I've got the conception down to two possible dates."

The doctor's brow rose. Shego glanced briefly at Drakken, who was standing almost in the corner of the small exam room and watching from behind the doctor. He seemed to perk up slightly from his worry and started really listening.

"It was either New Year's...or else...January 11th," she said giving Drakken a longer glance. She saw his cheeks turn pink.

She startled slightly as the ultrasound probe made contact, and she let out a breath. Her shoulders were tense. Everything was tense.

"Relax," the doctor said.

Drakken gasped. Shego looked at his wide-eyes and slackened jaw as he stared over her shoulder. Her jaw tensed.

"Take a look," the doctor said.

Shego looked up at the doctor. His anxiety from meeting the two villains had faded, and a tiny hint of a smile was on his face. She held her breath and turned her head to see over her shoulder.

On the computer screen was a black and white moving and fluid image of...a baby.

Shego gasped at the sudden feeling of a familiar, soft flicking in her belly. On the screen, the baby stretched, pushed its foot up into the uterine wall, and then opened its mouth and yawned. Shego's hands flew to cover her mouth as her jaw fell open.

"Lively little one," the doctor commented. "Based on those dates, if you're sure...?"

He paused, and Shego took her wide eyes from the screen to where he was looking at her for confirmation. She nodded.

"Then it's definitely the earlier date based on the size and development. Which would put this little one at...fourteen and a half weeks."

 _'It_ was _the first time...'_

"Now it's just a bit too soon to know the gender..." the doctor continued, "but if you come back in a few weeks we can probably get a good idea."

Shego continued staring as the tiny movements she felt within her corresponded to the movements in the image onscreen.

"Would you like a picture to take home?"

Shego glanced back at the doctor again and nodded. His anxiety had left entirely and his smile had grown. He turned and looked at Drakken, and Shego followed his gaze. The blue man had sunk into a chair and his jaw had closed, but his eyes were still wide and his expression just a bit anxious.

"You're...the father?" the doctor asked him.

This snapped Drakken out of whatever he was thinking, and he frowned. "Of course I am!" he said, though his voice was shaky.

The doctor had put a still image on the screen and removed the probe. He took a paper towel to wipe the gel off of Shego's belly.

"Would you like any extra printouts to give to family?"

Drakken's lips parted and he froze, eyes going vacant as he stared straight ahead.

"Sure," Shego said quietly. It couldn't hurt to have extras.

The doctor typed a command into the computer. "Then I'll be right back."

He left the room, and Shego pulled her shirt back down and smoothed it. Drakken's eyes moved to hers now they were alone, but there was nothing in them.

"It was the first time," she said quietly, hoping to distract him.

"What?" Drakken asked, his gaze coming back into focus.

"The baby. It happened the very first time we... On New Year's Eve, when we were fighting. Or day. It was after midnight by that time actually."

One corner of Drakken's mouth slowly curled into a smirk. He stepped over to the bedside and smiled at the image onscreen before looking down at her. "I did warn you. You're the one who didn't want to stop for me to get a—"

"Drakken," she interrupted, sitting up halfway. "When the doctor gets the test results... If something's wrong—"

"How can it be wrong," he interrupted as fear leapt back into his eyes. "Look at it," he gestured to the image onscreen. "It's perfect."

"I know," she said, reaching up and taking his hand. "But...no matter what happens... We're still going to find that cure, or the vaccine, or whatever. Whatever you need help with...you've got it. I want to help."

He looked at her curiously, fighting the fear in his eyes. He lifted his free hand and ran it back through his hair as his gaze returned to the image onscreen.

"Then no one else will have to go through this," she said.

A knock on the door signaled the doctor's return, and Drakken took a few steps back. The doctor was holding two printouts.

"Here you go. Here's ten wallet-sizes and one actual size."

"Actual size?" Shego asked, sitting up farther to reach for the pictures.

"Yes," the doctor answered.

Shego looked at the larger black-and-white photo and cupped her hand beneath the image. The baby was as long as her hand.

"Um," Drakken said, and Shego and the doctor turned to look at where he was fidgeting nervously. "Can you tell us anything yet...about the pain she's been having?"

"Well, we still need to look at the labs, but...from what you described it just sounds like muscle cramps," the doctor said, folding his hands. "Were you exercising when the pain occurred?"

Shego thought back to the outrageous number of hours she'd spent in the gym the days immediately before the first incident. Then she thought about the handspring she'd done that afternoon—a move she hadn't done in months.

"Yes," she said, starting to feel a strange mixture of irritation and relief rising within her.

"You're probably just over-exerting yourself. Your body is making a lot of changes and adaptations to accommodate the baby. Your abdominal muscles will be stretching and you won't be able to do...what you're used to." Shego looked up and saw the faintest anxiety returning to the doctor's eyes. "In fact, you could do damage to yourself with too much activity. You'll have to learn to slow down and take it easy."

Shego took it all in as both the relief and irritation grew.

"You're...sure that's all it is?" Drakken asked.

The doctor turned to him. "I will call you when we get the lab results back, but I don't think you have anything to worry about. The baby looks very healthy."

* * *

Ten minutes later they were back in the hover-car after having given the doctor the number for one of the lair's landlines. Shego was still distracted by her relief that the baby was all right and by her irritation that the pain was her own fault. And...there was still the hint of doubt that she knew would remain until the test results came back.

After all, what _was_ normal for the offspring of a comet-powered woman and a who-knows-why-he's-blue man?

She was holding up the sonogram and staring at the blurred black-and-white image. The memory of seeing the baby move was still fresh, and she kept replaying it over and over as she stared at the picture.

_'I... We... We're having a baby.'_

Next to her in the driver's seat, Drakken sighed heavily.

"Hm? What is it?" she asked, surprised at the sadness in his eyes when she turned. His gaze stayed fixed ahead on the skies.

"Mother would have been so happy."

* * *

** Day 108 **

The lab was more active than it had ever been. The chattering cries of monkeys from glass cages lining the entire back wall and the constant hum of machinery were just the first layer of activity that Drakken's accelerated testing had brought. The murmurs of conversation from the ever-present henchmen made it impossible for Shego to do any of the things she used to do in the lab—namely sitting and doing nothing—but as she had promised at the hospital, she wanted to be part of the action. So she shut out the noise and went about her work.

The role she felt most comfortable in, especially considering she was forced into reduced physical activity, was cataloguing the test results as the henchmen brought them to her. So she had relegated herself to sitting in front of the computer and entering data. There were tests on mice, tests on monkeys, tests on each henchman, tests on Drakken, and indeed, tests on her. For the humans there were tests on skin cells, blood cells, hair cells, cells extracted from saliva, and some tests labeled in Latin that she didn't bother looking up; she didn't want to know. For the animals the tests were far more extensive to the point that she'd stopped trying to keep track, and just did her job. Drakken could make sense of it all; there was no reason she needed to.

The henchmen handled the dirty work, and that was the part about Shego's reduced activity that she didn't mind. When one of the test animals died, mouse or monkey, they had to monitor the dead creature and keep it quarantined until Drakken was satisfied he'd extracted enough samples from it to analyze. Then they had to get rid of it since it contained the virus.

Under Drakken's orders a new exit from the lab had been built that went directly to the beach. And on the beach, a hazardous waste container for everything they got rid of, from the corpses of mice to their nitrile gloves. Wearing scrubs, gloves, and masks had become the norm to the point that Shego barely noticed anymore, except when she would remove her mask and see the painful indentation on the bridge of her nose and the slight chafing around her ears.

Drakken had also built an entire decontamination chamber in the lab that everyone was required to use before they left to go to any other part of the lair. It contained a full-body ultrasonic bath, which was...weird. Shego had nearly dozed off listening to Drakken's explanation of how it worked, but had argued with him incessantly over its necessity. None of the henchmen had gotten sick, and but for the occasional cough both she and Drakken were well. But he was vehement on the point that they would not be responsible for taking the virus out of the lab, so, everyone got used to ultrasonic bathing.

It had been very amusing the first time Drakken realized he would have to use it too.

Drakken had a role in just about everything, except the hazardous waste disposal. His 'evil' was showing through in that one regard, though Shego didn't think it was anymore evil than that typical of most people. He was always looking at printouts from the computer that seemed to go on forever, analyzing the data that Shego had input, and then hurting his neck bending over some type of fancy microscope that he had actually purchased.

He was as ambitious as ever now that the actual vaccine trials were underway. He still rarely slept, determined as he had become, and declared every day that he was 'close,' whatever that actually meant. Shego didn't know how hard it was supposed to be to create a vaccine, but he was showing more excitement over the trials than he had shown about anything she could remember. Including...being with her.

Granted, their relationship had truly begun while he was barely clinging to life. But she had hoped for a little more enthusiasm towards her in general... Not just when she was enticing him into late-night bedroom activities. Of course, those had stopped since he barely came to bed anymore. And when she did drag him away from the lab (after an ultrasonic bath) he was always talking excitedly about the vaccine. It made her happy to see him so happy... And, she didn't want to derail any brilliant idea he might have. So for the most part she consigned herself back to the role of side-kick. Side-kick who happened to sometimes share the mad scientist's bed, and was carrying his child.

That was bothering her even more than his lack of attention to her, she realized. His passion for the work was helping to lift him out of his grief about his mother, and the visit to the hospital coupled with the doctor's phone call that their baby was not only developing normally, but also had not contracted the deadly disease had apparently stabilized whatever worrying he had been doing on the matter.

Yet he still showed no interest.

Shego leaned back in the computer chair and set her hands atop her belly in what was becoming a subconscious habit.

His lack of attention to her must have just been due to his focus on the vaccine, she rationalized. It had to be. Because when she'd told him she was pregnant he had instantly gone from ready to die to determined to find a cure. And when she was lost, he came to find her... When she was depressed, he comforted her. When they had walked in the park, he told her that she was the source of his happiness.

The work he was doing now, while not evil...she was glad he was doing it. But she missed him.

She glanced at him giving orders to some of the henchmen monitoring the animals before she turned back to the computer. She was just finishing the latest round of data entry before she would print the new test results for him to begin analyzing. She was eager for him to succeed. She wanted him to find a vaccine and stop the spread of the disease that had cost him so much, and was doing such harm to the world.

Then maybe when it was over, he would spend more time with her.

"Shego." His voice startled her. "Are the latest test results ready?"

"Yeah, give me a sec," she answered and carefully typed in the last piece of information the henchmen had given her. There was no margin for error.

She saved the file and sent it to the printer, and stood up.

"Hey, Drakken—"

He was already walking around the large desk toward the printer. She frowned and followed him. The page had begun printing, but she knew from experience it would take a few minutes. Drakken's foot was already tapping impatiently and his arms crossed as he glared at the technology.

"Drakken?"

"Hm?" He gave her a half-focused glance.

How was she supposed to ask for attention? That wasn't something she did. That wasn't something she'd ever done for any man. It was the men who begged _her_ for attention. Though granted, they were only ever interested in one thing... Not that she gave it to them.

"How about after you go over these tests, you— We...take a break?"

His brow furrowed. "Why?"

"...Never mind, forget I mentioned it," she said, turning and heading back to her chair. She needed to get the next template ready for when the next round of tests came in. It would be a few hours... And then it would be well-past dinner time, and Drakken would insist she finish entering the data that night, and then he would insist on analyzing it throughout the night...

The cycle would continue.

She sighed sadly as she watched him grab the printout and take it back to his workbench, not giving her a second glance.

* * *

Shego woke up to a soft knocking at her door. She had barely rolled over before the door opened and a familiar silhouette appeared in the dim light of the hall. She scowled.

"Shego?" Drakken whispered.

She turned her lamp on and then shielded her eyes against the light. She squinted through her fingers at the clock. It was 2:46 AM.

"Shego? What...what are you doing here?" Drakken asked, stepping fully into the room.

Shego lay her head back down and pulled her blanket up, closing her eyes.

"...Shego?"

She opened her eyes again and peered at Drakken, his eyes confused behind his dark circles and gaunt features.

_'Why is he waking me up in the middle of the night...'_

"You never come to bed anymore, so..." she raised one hand in a shrug, "here I am."

His brow furrowed and he frowned. "I'm...going to bed now."

He reached out a hand toward her. She looked at it, and then snuggled deeper into her pillow.

"I was already asleep."

He looked even more confused. She closed her eyes and part of her felt a measure of satisfaction that he was getting a taste of what she'd been through thanks to his lack of attention over the past several days. But part of her also knew he wasn't doing it on purpose... And it kept nagging at her to just go with him now that he was finally there.

"I...don't understand," he said.

She opened her eyes and glared at him as the scales in her mind weighed more heavily over to villain than lover.

"We went over this once. You don't get to ignore me until you want sex, and then suddenly remember that I exist."

Drakken's face flushed as he took a step back in shock. "I wasn't— That's not— I wasn't even thinking about—"

"Oh yeah? Then why wake me up? Night-time is for _sleeping_."

His stammering devolved into a few non-words before he stopped as he apparently seemed to process the rest of what she had said. Shego didn't know what she'd been hoping for, but the contempted furrowing of his brow was not it.

"I haven't been ignoring you!"

She leaned up on her side and frowned. "Oh really? When's the last time we talked?"

"Today!"

"About something other than the vaccine?"

Drakken blinked.

"When's the last time you _actually_ came to bed to sleep at an even somewhat reasonable hour? Let alone actually sleep. You just talk, talk, talk, about the testing and then you're gone again in a couple of hours. Or, when's the last time we've eaten a meal together? When's the last time you—"

She stopped short of saying 'touched me' because it was counter-intuitive to what she had said before. But—she growled at herself—she _did_ want him to touch her.

She rolled over to face the wall and pinched her eyes shut. The room was silent for several seconds but for her own frustrated breathing. She almost wondered if he was gone, until...

"Are...are you coming?"

"Nope," she said.

Silence again. She let it linger.

After a minute she glanced over her shoulder and saw him standing there, brow twisted in confusion and worry and...hurt? as he stared down at the floor.

She sighed.

"Hey Dr. D.?"

He looked up with cautious hope.

"Love stinks."

He looked even more concerned and his gaze fell to the floor again. She huffed and rolled back over to face him. She couldn't help herself...

"If I come, will you stay until...until it's _actually_ a reasonable hour for getting up?"

He looked hesitant. "But...the vaccine... The next round of tests will be done in just—"

"It won't hurt to wait long enough to get real sleep."

"Over 100,000 people have died!"

"And they're going to keep dying! You can't save those people."

He looked stunned. "I thought...you wanted to help save—"

"I _do_ , but you can't do anything for the people who already have the disease. Just for those who don't. And be realistic...by the time a vaccine that actually works is done, it might be too late for it to matter."

"...I'm close..." he said weakly. "No vaccine...has ever been created this fast before. We _can_ make a difference."

She sat up. "Okay, fine. Say it works. Then what?"

His jaw worked silently as he stared in confusion. She stood up and took a step toward him, her hands on her hips.

"You're spending every waking hour, and most of the hours when you _should_ be asleep on this thing. And I've been watching—you barely eat, either. You're obsessed. Dr. D...."

She hugged herself gently and let her gaze fall. This wasn't how this was supposed to go... She was mad. She was supposed to make him feel guilty and beg her forgiveness. Not give into weakness and fear.

He stared at her in confusion and frustration. After a long moment, fear won.

"I'm just..." she shrugged, "wondering...if I actually fit in. 'Cause if I wasn't here, you'd just have one of the more competent henchmen doing my job... You don't need me. And if I'm just...a higher-than-average intelligence henchwoman, then..."

She turned on her heel and climbed back into her bed, facing the wall. She tugged the blankets up to her chin and turned off the lamp.

"Good night, Dr. D."

_'Please don't leave... Please don't leave, please—'_

"Good night Shego."

He left.

She cried.

* * *

** Day 109 **

Shego slept late the next morning. She felt guilty about doing so...and also didn't. If he had really wanted her in the lab, he'd have come to wake her. Because she knew she was right; one of the smarter henchmen could do data entry. Her unique skill-set wasn't needed for the type of engineering he was doing. If he wanted the work done, he'd get it done without her. It was fine that she slept in. And besides...

Now she was afraid to get up.

He had left the night before...actually left. She had thought he would stay. Why hadn't he stayed? Why hadn't he apologized, or at least kept arguing, or given her an answer about the future after the work was done?

Shego had never thought she would be in love. But now she was, and she had never considered the possible doubts that might accompany the condition.

How did someone know what love really was, anyway?

She finally got out of bed and went through her morning routine on auto-pilot, dressing in what had become her new typical attire of black stretch pants, bright green t-shirt, and a loose, darker green jacket. It would be childish to hide out in her room all day, so...she might as well have some breakfast—alone, as usual—and then go to the lab to see if he had found someone to replace her at the computer.

And if he had...or if he hadn't, she would still drag him out of the lab to talk to him. As much as it now frightened her, after the night before...she had to talk to him. He couldn't hide behind excuses about the vaccine. She didn't know how the two of them were supposed to _be_ yet, but she did know that his ignoring her and the baby in favor of work wasn't right. And...she also knew that her contempt of him the night before wasn't right. She owed him an apology, too.

Maybe couples in love did this. Maybe they actually sat down and had conversations about the time they were supposed to give to each other.

It sounded...too clinical for love. But, she had never been in love before. And again...how does one know what love really is?

She put her boots on and crossed her small bedroom toward the exit, her brow furrowed in anxiety. The door slid open and...Shego nearly jumped back inside.

Drakken was sitting on the ground leaning against the wall next to her door. He had one leg out straight and the other bent at the knee, and his head was leaned back against the wall. His eyes were half open revealing prominent red blood vessels, and his dark circles were deeper than ever. He looked...like she had never seen before. And she had seen him at his worst.

"Drakken...?" She stepped through the door and looked down at him as he stared at a point on the wall opposite. "Have you...? Have you been there all night?"

His eyes slowly lifted to meet hers, and the raw emotion she saw in them frightened her. She backed away from it until she bumped into the opposite wall. He was staring at her, his eyes tortured and desperate.

"Drakken?"

"What did I do wrong?" he said weakly. "I thought...I thought we... What did I do wrong?"

His breaths came in shallow heaves as he stared at her in hopeless despair. She found herself slowly sitting down opposite him, trapped by his eyes and pain inside them. She took a halting breath.

"...You forgot about me," she said slowly. "I could be gone, on vacation somewhere. You wouldn't even notice."

He opened his mouth to speak—

"All you care about is that vaccine."

His jaw closed and a frown of contempt joined the pain. She felt a lump form in her throat.

"You're mad at me because I want to save millions of people from dying?" he hissed.

"No. It's because you're acting like it's the only thing in the entire world that matters. What happens when it's over?"

"What?" He narrowed his eyes, but the gesture was weak.

"Say that you do it. Say that you create this...miracle vaccine and save the world. Then what?"

He slowly shook his head, the contempt leaving his eyes as he stared at her in despair. "I don't understand."

She scowled at him. "You're not doing anything else! You live and breathe that vaccine! What else are you living for?"

His jaw worked silently for a moment as he stared meekly. "I thought...I thought..."

"What? What did you think you were doing by...just treating me like your side-kick, and not like...like..."

She trailed off as the lump in her throat grew. The worry she had been trying to ignore came into focus as she stared at his confused, injured eyes. What if their being together was just...something temporary, brought on by the crisis and the fact that they had a baby together? What if the love she thought they had...the love she had discovered she wanted...wasn't really what was between them?

"I thought...I was doing it for us too," he said timidly.

Her eyes narrowed. "Huh?"

"We need a world to live in," he continued. "If there's nothing left..."

"So what happens if you _can't_ do it?" she said quickly, cutting him off. It was so much easier to argue, than to be...vulnerable. Like he was... She took a breath. "What if you can't create a vaccine? And, given your track record, that's the more likely outcome. Are you just gonna keep at it relentlessly and keep the cycle going forever? Keep me and the henchmen trapped here obeying your whims even after the world is destroyed? What then, Drakken? What happens to us if you fail?"

He seemed afraid to speak as he answered. "We go on," he said cautiously.

Her lips parted to speak, but she hesitated. She suddenly found herself shaking.

"What does that look like?" she asked.

He stared at her then, with something different in his eyes that she'd not seen before. It was clear he had an answer...but something was holding him back from giving it.

Probably her, she realized, and the way she kept leveling accusations at him without telling him what it was she really wanted.

"Dr. D.," she said pleadingly, drawing her knees up to her chest.

Whatever it was that was in his eyes quickly retreated and hid behind fear. She fought back the tears that wanted to form.

"So....you...want me to stop working on the vaccine?" he asked slowly.

"No, I just... Just want you to have some balance," she said.

_'Tell him the truth!'_

"And...I..." She balled her fists and growled. Why was it so hard? She looked down at her knees and let the words come. "It doesn't...feel like you love me, when...when you just spend all your time working, and...don't pay any attention to me."

Her chest hurt. Her throat hurt. She couldn't look up. She felt so childish, saying something like that. To beg for his attention...especially when he was working on something to save the world, was selfish in the extreme. But she didn't have the energy to fight herself anymore. She just let her heart speak for her.

"I'm sorry," she continued, knowing how ridiculous she sounded. But she couldn't stop. "Dr. D., how... How do we even know what love is?"

The echo of footsteps turned both of their heads quickly toward the end of the hall where a henchman appeared. He saw them sitting on the floor opposite each other and his brow rose behind his goggles and respirator.

"Uh...uh... Never mind," the man said, quickly turning and leaving.

Shego looked down again. "You have to get to work..." she said quietly, the irony not lost on her. "They don't know what to do."

"...What did you say?" he asked weakly.

She lifted her head just enough to see him. "The next tests are done... They need you to tell them what to do next."

He shook his head. "No, you said...'how do we know what love is?'"

His eyes were shocked and full of fear, and he had leaned forward. Her heart hurt as she looked back at him.

"When this is over...no matter what happens...what do we do then?" she asked.

He kept staring at her.

"Are we going to take over the world? Are we...going to hide here until it's safe to go out again? Are we..." She stopped and looked down. "Are we going to stay here to raise the baby? Or go somewhere else...when we can..."

She set her face in her knees, diving into the darkness behind her eyes and focusing all her attention into it. She didn't want to think about the future... But it plagued her constantly. She wanted to believe that all the things he said when it was just her and him trapped in his room or alone in the park were real. But his existence revolved around the vaccine. Even when he had been recovering...his every waking hour had been spent staring at the laptop computer. He rarely gave her attention voluntarily.

She heard him move toward her, but she kept staring into the darkness of her closed eyes. She felt his fingers lightly touch her arm.

"Shego?"

She turned and lay her head sideways atop her knees and stared down the empty hall.

"Do you mean..." he said slowly and uncertainly, "that...you don't...actually...?"

She turned her eyes to look at his. There was so much pain and fear in them, but a wall was starting to go up behind them. It scared her.

"What?" she said quickly.

"You said...'how do we know what love is.' Do you mean that you...that you don't...really love me?"

Drakken seemed frozen, staring at her and waiting for a response. The wall that had been building behind his eyes hovered there, half-complete as he held his breath. Shego raised her head as she stared at him.

She had seen him on the edge of death, and she had seen him grieve...but neither compared to the fear and pain in his eyes in that moment. Everything she had been afraid of and upset with him about suddenly dulled as she saw what she had done to him. And she realized she was the only one with the power to change it.

She knew what _could_ happen. The part of her she retreated to most often—the villain-part—could act on her insecurities and answer that she didn't know. And then that wall he'd been building would slam up and he would retreat far from her, and if that happened who knew when or if they could ever get back to where they were.

But there was still the fragile part of her...her heart...that was so afraid... She knew what to do. But all of the unknown that he seemed unable to answer...remaining in that unknown, was what scared her and held her back.

She pushed beyond it anyway.

"I love you," she said firmly.

His expression didn't change. He moved to sit next to her against the wall and leaned his head back, staring straight ahead. Her heart began racing. She leaned forward to look at him.

"Drakken?"

He took a slow breath. She was surprised to see that the despair in his eyes hadn't left, and was quickly being joined by anger. When he spoke, his voice was brusque and hushed.

"Then what did I do wrong?"

He turned so quickly that she fell back, startled. Then he was on his knees and starting to stand, a frown marring his features. Panic resounded like clanging alarms in Shego's head as her heart continued racing.

"Drakken?"

He walked past her and down the hall. She scrambled to her feet after him and followed him the short distance to his room.

"Drakken?"

He took off his coat and tossed it onto his bed and then lay down on his side and curled up, staring away at nothing. She wanted to sit down to be nearer to him, to look into his eyes, but she was suddenly afraid as she realized...

She had made a huge mistake.

"Drakken? Uh..." She sat down on the edge of the bed as she feared her legs wouldn't hold her up. Her heart was pounding. She was compelled to speak but found herself growing more afraid by the second. "You still love me too, right?" she blurted out before she lost her nerve entirely.

He rolled onto his back without looking at her and dropped one forearm over his eyes while his other crossed his chest. He drew his knees upward as he sighed. She held her breath as she waited for him to respond.

"Yes... Of course. I never stopped."

He was frowning now. She still wanted to move closer, but was afraid of the anger she knew was building in him. She took a breath and tried to keep her voice level and explain.

"It doesn't feel like it, when...you don't treat me any differently than when I was just your side-kick."

His forearm moved off his face to rest across his chest with his other as he glared at her.

"What?"

She glanced away nervously and shrugged. "You don't...act any differently toward me. You just order me around and obsess over your work. It's no different than before. No one would even know that we're...uh..."

What were they? She still didn't know.

He sat up, his intense eyes not leaving hers. She glanced away nervously. When he answered his voice was level and cold.

"I'm trying to save the world. To make sure we have a world to live in. What is it exactly that you want me to do differently?"

She couldn't look at him under his accusing stare. It was the most eye-contact he'd made with her in days, and it was unsettling. She realized that type of look would have only made her scoff in the past. Now it hurt.

"Maybe...just..." She set her hands on the bed as she felt her frame shaking. What had she done? This was her fault. Why had she done this? "Sometimes, just...look at me...like you love me... Instead of like I'm just here to print papers for you."

He didn't answer. When she looked up, she saw that his anger toward her had stalled as he processed what she had said. She latched onto that sliver of hope and continued.

"And you never...ever mention the baby. I can't tell if...if you're really happy about it or not."

His eyes met hers in alarm.

"I..."

She leaned toward him hopefully. But then his expression darkened with a frown again.

"Why did you do this to me? I thought..." He turned away and drew his knees up, setting his chin atop them as he hugged them. "I thought I had done something, and you didn't love me anymore."

She reached across the bed and set her hand on his arm. "No. I... I'm sorry."

He glanced at her warily.

She shifted a few inches nearer and let her hand fall. "So...tell me," she said carefully, "and tell me...specifically. If you can't make a vaccine...then what happens?"

His face fell. "How long will you let me try? I'm _close,_ Shego!"

She thought about that. "Well...I guess until...someone else comes up with one first. But what happens to us?"

He shifted forward slightly and stared straight ahead at the wall. "We stay safe. Until the world recovers."

She looked down. It was the same answer, just like before.

"And if you do come up with something? Say...today. Say you figure it out today."

"Then—"

"What happens to us?" she interrupted.

"Then we get to go out a lot sooner."

She sighed and turned away, bringing her own knees up to rest her head upon. She felt his stare.

A moment later he was moving, and she looked up to find him in front of her, leaning down over her with his brow furrowed.  
"What am I missing?"

She glanced down. She felt awful. Guilty. He was literally trying to save the world, and she was bothered that she was missing out on...what? She was tearing him down for nothing.

"Nothing," she said, resting her cheek on her knees again. "I'm sorry Dr. D... I don't know what love— What being in love is supposed to look like yet. I guess."

He sat down in front of her. She felt his stare and turned to see his calculating, wondering eyes.

"What love looks like?" he asked.

She nodded. He looked perplexed, but thoughtful

"Shego... If...none of this had happened..." He said slowly, seeming to choose his words carefully. She straightened up, listening intently. "If we hadn't gotten sick, or...or if the pandemic had never happened...what would we be doing right now?"

She blinked in surprise, feeling that anxious rush of fear again. That was exactly what she wanted _him_ to answer. Because...she didn't know herself.

They had been so reckless at the beginning... They hadn't done anything the way she had she imagined romance and love when she was young. There had been no coy glances, flirtatious gestures, excited anticipation, or shy first kisses. There hadn't been any romantic dates or long conversations into the night or dreams about the next time they would see each other.

They had just acted on impulse and continued acting on impulse, skirting the issue of a 'relationship' until the virus had come and thrown their world into chaos. And she wondered...

"If it had never happened...would we be together?" she asked sadly.

His brow rose as fear started to come back to his eyes. But then it suddenly vanished as he looked at her with resolve.

"Yes."

Her lips parted and her brow rose in surprise. For some reason...she hadn't expected that.

"We would?"

"Yes." He affirmed, but looked a bit uncertain when he saw her expression. "If...if you wanted us to be."

She looked down again. It was one thing to say it, but...before the virus they had already been together for a month. And except for their illness and the baby, nothing else had changed. He still spent all his time on work and treated her like his side-kick, just as he had then. Their relationship wasn't built on anything real. It was only built on survival, and...on...

She looked up quickly, her brow furrowing.

"Why did you sleep with me?"

He leaned back, blinking in surprise. "What?"

"On New Year's. Why did you sleep with me?" she repeated, her cheeks coloring.

He was blushing a moment later, but his eyes narrowed. "You kissed me."

"You kissed me too."

"...Y-you kissed me first! Why?" he fired back.

She shrugged and rolled her eyes slightly. "I don't know... You had just been yelling for so long and I was sick of it and...you were right in my face."

She was shaking again, and wondered if it showed in her voice. She suddenly realized her biggest fear was that any day...could be the end of it. Because the reality was, all they did was fight. Every tender moment between them had been motivated by crisis or lust.

He huffed out a breath and looked away, his expression frustrated. He looked back at her. "So what are you saying?"

She could feel her lower lip tremble. She bit it lightly. "I just...want to know why you slept with me that night."

"You started it. You dragged me in here. Why did _you_ want to sleep with _me?"_ he asked.

Her brow rose. She thought even further back, to that moment in the lab after she'd interrupted his rant with a kiss and he'd pushed her against the wall. She had been nervous, waiting for him to move first...but she had already made her decision. She already knew that she wanted him. She wanted him to kiss her and keep kissing her until she'd had her fill of him, and still she knew it wouldn't be enough.

She didn't know why, but somehow, back then, before even the first tender touch...she already knew.

She bit her cheek as suddenly tears threatened her eyes. "Because I was already in love with you."

His lips parted in a soft gasp. Her eyes narrowed.

"Why did you go along with it? You didn't have to come when I pulled you in here."

His voice was awed and soft. "Because...I was in love with you."

She blinked at him in surprise. "What?"

"I was afraid..." he glanced away briefly, "if I didn't go with you that I would lose my chance. I didn't...I didn't think there was a chance you could love me," he said, shaking his head.

"What?" she asked, releasing her tight hold on her knees and moving closer to him. "You thought I was just...what?"

Her eyes narrowed as he shrugged nervously. "I don't know, I... I didn't know."

"You thought it was just a...a one-night stand?"

His cheeks colored again and he looked down, swallowing nervously. "I didn't know what to do, I...that...um."

Her frown deepened as she processed what he had said. He was already in love as she was, but had thought she just considered him a throwaway fling. Yet he slept with her anyway. And several times after.

_'What kind of twisted, depraved mind—'_

"Um, Shego? Will you...keep a secret?"

"Huh?" He looked even more nervous. His tired, bloodshot eyes kept darting to hers and then back to his knees which he had drawn up to his chest. "What?" she asked.

"That, um...on New Year's... That was...my first time."

Shego blinked and slowly processed his meaning. "What..."

He was blushing even deeper as he looked at her nervously. She thought back to that night and reconsidered all that had happened adding the new information he had just given her. Suddenly a lot of things made sense. He had looked terrified most of the time, and always waited for her cue before making a move. Yet he had never once let her have control of the situation. As soon as she'd made a move, he was making one back.

Despite her current concerns, she found herself smiling at the memory. It had frustrated her and thrilled her the way he refused to let her take charge, which only made her more determined, which then only made _him_ more determined. It had led inevitably to a exhausted cease-fire, resulting in a slightly more calm and mutual pleasure in one another.

But she hadn't really thought about how scared he had looked.

That considered, it made sense why he had just gone along with her. He wasn't trying to take advantage of her. He genuinely had nothing to base a decision on, except what he had said: he loved her and was afraid he would lose his chance with her if he didn't just do it.

He was watching her anxiously. She smiled at him.

"Could have fooled me."

His brow furrowed in confusion. "What?"

She shook her head. "I couldn't tell."

He looked surprised, but his expression started to brighten. "You couldn't?"

"Nope. But it makes sense now that I think about it. I've got a couple of things to teach you."

He blushed and glanced away as his eyes clouded again.

She moved to sit next to him on the edge of the bed, her feet dangling down to the floor. He watched her as she leaned gently into his side and set her head on his shoulder. His tension gradually released as he leaned back on his hands and set his feet down on the floor.

"So...go back to even before then. Before New Year's. You're in love with me. What is it you're dreaming of?"

She turned her head up slightly to see him as his gaze grew distant. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly...

"...You'll laugh at me," he said.

She raised her brow at him in encouragement. He took another breath.

"...Dancing with you in a field of flowers with rainbows?"

She snorted and set her face against his shoulder while her frame shook with laughter.

"I knew it," he grumbled.

She fell down sideways on the bed and laughed loud and long. Of course that would be his idea of an idyllic future. His head was always in the clouds. Until he got really focused on something of course, like the vaccine.

"Laugh it up," he muttered. "You did ask."

"Okay, okay..." she said, holding her stomach as her muscles began to ache. She brought her legs up to lay across his lap. "Besides that. Anything actually realistic?"

He looked a bit anxious again, but she was smiling at him now. He had always loved her... Even before their first kiss. What had she been so worried about?

"Mmh... I also thought...we could be emperor and empress of the world? I would give the orders, and you would enforce them."

She smirked. "That sounds better."

He smiled weakly and let out a shaky breath. The fear had left his eyes and relief was settling in.

"What about you?"

Her smirk vanished. This was what she didn't know. And she realized...her not knowing was why she kept asking him. What were they supposed to be? She couldn't think in rainbows, or a future where they actually succeeded in world domination. She had to think practically.

But...maybe...

"Wait...wait right here. I'll be right back," she said as she got up and hurried out of the room.

She ran the short distance down the hall to her own room, and inside she pulled open the drawer of her nightstand and grabbed a small rectangular box. She opened it briefly to be sure of its contents, and then hurried back to his room.

He wasn't completely off track with his flowers and rainbows.

When she got back he was sitting with his hands folded in his lap and his face downturned and thoughtful as he waited for her. He looked up curiously as she entered.

Her heart was pounding. She sat next to him again and looked at him shyly.

"Dr. D.? I know this is...probably the worst time for this, but..." She produced the box that she had concealed in her hands and opened it to reveal three gold rings, two the ones he had looked at for her on her laptop, and a men's ring she had found to match. She picked that one out of the box and held it up between them. "Will you marry me?"

His jaw fell open as he stared at the thin, matte-gold ring with three tiny stones embedded in it—a diamond in the center with an aquamarine on either side, like hers. He looked at her, and then down to the rings still in the box.

"Those are..."

"I saw your web search on my laptop. So...what do you say, Doc?"

She was shaking, even as she smiled up at him. She didn't know why; she was fairly certain what his answer would be.

But before he said it his arms were around her, holding her tight. She'd been taken by surprise and had the wind knocked out of her, so started hitting his shoulder with her hand that held the ring.

"Sorry!" he said as he released her and she choked in a few breaths.

Her brow furrowed in irritation as she gave him a sideways glance.

"What are you waiting for?" she said hoarsely, still sucking in air.

He smiled shyly and plucked the ring out of her hand, admiring it. He looked down at her and nodded yes, and she realized he was fighting back tears.

"Here," she said, taking the ring back and grabbing his left hand. She slid the ring on his finger.

"Shouldn't that wait for the...f-for the wedding?" he said, his voice shaking as he smiled at her.

"Who cares?" she said with a grin.

He sniffed once, and then reached carefully into the ring box and took out her engagement ring. She lifted her hand for him to put it on, and as she felt the cool metal slide against her finger as tears began welling up in her eyes.

She smiled at him. A second later his arms were around her again, less tightly this time so she could breathe, and she hugged him back and let a few tears stain her cheeks.

She relaxed into his embrace, all her worries vanishing like a puff of smoke as she leaned into his warmth. But then his hands were on her shoulders, pushing her back.

"Shego?" he said seriously, leveling a cautious but firm stare at her.

"Yes...?" she said, anxiety starting to creep back into her heart.

"If...if you decide you want to hurt me again, just...s-set me on fire."

Shego thought of the way he had looked when she had found him on the floor of the hall, utterly heartbroken. Sorrow gripped her heart and she reached up to stroke his cheek.

"I'm sorry." She pulled her legs up under her and leaned forward to kiss the corner of his mouth. "I'm sorry."

The tension left his face and he rested his forehead against hers.

"Dr. D.?"

He opened his eyes and pulled back a few inches.

"Stop treating me like I'm just your side-kick."

He looked confused.

"No, don't act like you don't get it. The way you treat me in the lab, it could be anyone else in there doing my job."

His eyes narrowed slightly. "You want me to...to act indecently toward you while the henchmen are around?"

She bit her cheek. "No... But...you could at least..." she hung her head and growled in embarrassment, "pay more attention to me."

His brow furrowed in confusion. "How?"

"I...I don't know. Figure it out. At least...look at me like you love me."

She sat back down and looped her arm through his as she rested her head on his shoulder. How could everything be so wonderful and still be so complicated?

A sudden stirring inside her abdomen caused her to jump slightly. She still wasn't used to the sensation, though she felt it every day. Drakken glanced at her curiously as she set a hand over her middle.

"The baby is moving," she explained almost reluctantly. She knew he wouldn't care. He might acknowledge what she had said, and then probably announce the need to get back to work. For some reason...he just wasn't interested in their child. It devastated her.

"Um. Can I..." Her eyes snapped up to his. "Can I...feel it?"

She found herself breathless as she nodded quickly, and then she watched his hand steal across her waist and displace hers on the small swell of her belly. She leaned back on her hands and turned her head up to watch his face.

He was almost frozen in concentration. And then the baby moved again. He gasped and light came into his eyes, followed a moment later by a gleeful smile. A joy and pain gripped her heart at the same time as she watched him finally, finally showing an interest. She barely breathed for fear the moment would end as he concentrated on feeling the baby's tiny movements, each one brightening his smile in turn.

He turned to look at her and his smile faded.

"Shego, why are you crying?"

She reached up and felt the tear tracks on her cheeks. Then she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, too overjoyed for words. He seemed startled but was kissing her back barely a second later, his arms loosely encircling her waist.

She was tempted to push him down on the bed and show him just how much she loved him. But instead she pulled away and looked at him seriously, her hands moving to his shoulders.

"I didn't know...if you were happy or not. About the baby."

"What?" he breathed in shock. "I— Of course I— Why...?"

He stared at her in disbelief, and she glanced away uncertainly.

"You never talk about it, even after we found out nothing's wrong. And you ignore me when I talk about it..."

He looked confused but thoughtful. He drew her into a kiss again, but she pulled away and leveled a serious stare at him.

"You're happy?"

"Yes," he insisted, nodding profusely. "It's just..."

She followed his distressed glance and then lifted her hand to his cheek to turn his face back toward her. She felt her chest tighten.

He bit his lip and looked very nervous. "I don't know...what to do with a baby... I don't know..." He looked at the gold ring on his finger, and then away, "how to do any of this," he finished, giving a broad, frustrated gesture.

Shego blinked at him as all her anxiety melted away. It was suddenly clear.

He was just as afraid about everything as she was.

"Oh...Drakken," she said through an affectionate sigh as her lips found his again. This time she did push him gently down to the bed and climbed over him, weaving her fingers into his hair as she kissed him. After a moment he lightly pushed her shoulders up and frowned at her.

"It's not funny."

She shook her head as she moved her hands to his chest. "No, it's..." She glanced away briefly and took a deep breath. "I'm scared too."

His brow rose. "You...what?"

She shook her head. "This is all new to me too. I'm just as in the dark as you are."

He looked at her curiously as his hands moved to rest hesitantly on her hips. Just then she felt again the familiar movement of the baby, but a bit harder than usual. She brought a hand up to her belly automatically.

"Is the baby moving again?" he asked.

She nodded absently as she focused on the sensation. It was still fascinating to her.

"Can I feel it again?"

She blinked at him in surprise and then sat back over his hips. He reached up and cautiously set his hand next to hers.

"You don't need to ask," she said as she watched him smile.

His brow rose. "I don't?"

She shook her head. "No. It's yours." She set her hand atop his and laced their fingers together. "I'm yours... I'm all yours."

He had a curious look on his face as they felt the baby's movements together. And then she couldn't help herself. She lay over him again, pressing close as her heart fluttered in anticipation. She kissed him slow and deep and was rewarded with his hands on her hips, kneading her flesh gently. He hadn't done that before.

"So," he began as he pulled away for breath. She noticed the flush in his cheeks and the shy look in his eyes. "Wh-what were you going to teach me?"

She laughed in delight, but rolled off of him and snuggled into his side. His bloodshot eyes told a very different story than his words were.

"Not now. You're too tired."

His jaw dropped in surprise and then his lips came together in a pout. "Then why did you...why did you tease me!"

"You let me," she said as she sat up and smoothed her hair.

Something changed in his eyes then that she couldn't identify and it gave her pause. He was still pouting, but looked like he was on the edge of...doing something. What, she didn't know.

"You need to sleep," she interrupted his thoughts, looking at his dark circles and reddened eyes. She would feel awful about his sitting up in the hallway all night for a long time.

His pout deepened, and then vanished suddenly as he gasped. "But I need to work on the vaccine," he said as he sat up and reached for his coat.

"Not so fast!" she said, grabbing his arm and stopping him. "You were barely sleeping before and you were just up all night. Put your jammies on and go to bed. The vaccine can wait a day."

He frowned at her. "Over 5,000 people die every day."

"And you can't save the people who die today. Did it ever occur to you that you might figure this thing out faster if you let your brain have a good-night's sleep?"

The look in his eyes showed that clearly, he hadn't. But he was still holding onto his coat firmly and didn't look even close to giving in. She rolled her eyes.

"Okay, how about a compromise... You get the next round of tests started, then come back here and sleep. I'll stay in the lab and keep an eye on things, and...I'll wake you up when the next cycle is finished."

There was indecision in his eyes. A tiny smirk found its way to her lips as she moved closer to him.

"And after you get some rest, maybe you could delay going back to work, to..." she leaned in to whisper in his ear, "spend some quality time with me."

Her smirk grew as she saw him shiver once before looking at her and grinning devilishly.

"L-lessons?" he squeaked, his voice not at all matching the desire in his eyes. She chuckled.

"Just a couple things I think we'll both enjoy," she said, scooting behind him and hugging him. "Now. Get the tests started, then right back here for sleep."

After helping him into his coat they made their way to the lab, where the gaggle of henchmen on duty were milling around looking bored and perplexed. They snapped to attention when their boss entered, but still looked unsure since Drakken hadn't scrubbed up.

Shego paid close attention to the directions he was giving as she quickly began entering the results of the test that had ended in the middle of the night. She knew he wouldn't rest well if he had even the slightest doubts about the accuracy and precision with which the tests were being conducted. And she also knew it was entirely on her to make sure they were done right.

She realized his instructions had stopped, and turned back from the computer to look at him. He was standing near the workbench and peering into one of the microscopes. She stepped quickly to his side and leaned in to speak quietly over his shoulder.

"Do they know what to do?"

He straightened up with a sigh and nodded reluctantly. He looked absolutely terrible with his bloodshot eyes and dark circles.

"Then go sleep. I'll wake you up when the tests are done."

He made eye contact with her and she smiled encouragingly. He sighed again through his nose and then turned to leave.

The henchmen watched as their boss left the lab—something that he so rarely did, that she understood their fascination—but then they turned their goggled, masked faces toward her.

Her eyes narrowed. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

They all scrambled off to their various assigned stations and Shego walked back to the computer to finish the data entry she'd ignored the previous evening, plus the work that had been done overnight. She realized that many of the henchmen were keeping hours nearly as bad as Drakken was and felt even more guilty about her treatment of him.

Shego carried out the work automatically, but with great focus and double-checking everything. It was more numbers than she had ever cared to think about, and they were all starting to look the same. But with the importance of what they were now devoting themselves too, any mistake was intolerable. And so she would attend the task as minutes wore into hours—one of the few consistencies left in her life.

* * *

Shego yawned. The data entry was possibly the most boring thing she had ever done, and the unpleasantness from the morning was still weighing on her. If not for the distraction of worrying about Drakken she might not have had the energy for the work that day. Usually his frenetic presence was all it took to keep her awake, but his absence made the lab feel far more sterile than the scrubs, masks, and gloves they all wore.

"Um."

Shego turned at the sound of the henchman's voice. She looked the familiar-yet-unfamiliar man up and down once as he hovered three feet back. Even with the goggles and respirator, she could tell the man was nervous to speak to her. He held a stack of papers tightly in both hands in front of his chest.

"Tests done?" she asked, jumping to the obvious conclusion.

"Yes," he said, thrusting the papers out toward her. Shego wondered at his more-nervous-than-usual behavior. She realized that she had never interacted with the henchmen without Drakken around but to give a quick order and then leave.

"Thanks," she said as she took the papers and set them next to the stack she was almost finished with. She turned back to the computer.

After a few moments, she was aware the presence behind her hadn't moved. She turned back.

"So, uh..." the henchman began, his Indian accent thick, "what do you think about all the conspiracy theories?"

"Huh?"

"That the virus was really a bio-weapon created in a lab?"

Shego blinked. She hadn't heard that.

"I don't care," she said, turning back to the computer and the data entry.

She could still feel the man hovering, but she didn't acknowledge him again. After a few moments she heard his footsteps as he retreated. She glanced back and then her brow rose as she noticed for the first time that all of the other henchmen had halted their tasks to watch the exchange between her and their compatriot. When she narrowed her eyes at them they scrambled back to work, and she rolled her eyes.

She frowned as she considered what the man had suggested. None of the news outlets she and Drakken were watching had mentioned anything about conspiracy theories. It was all just the usual doom and gloom. Maybe they needed to broaden their viewing? After all, anyone deliberately creating a plague could be a potential ally...or a threat to their own plans for world conquest.

She also considered that the henchman had talked to her at all. She glanced back again at the men wearing scrubs from head to toe, the only recognizable element of their appearance their green goggles. She tried to pick one whose name she knew out of the crowd and realized she couldn't. She also realized...the last time any one of them had spoken to her about something other than Drakken's plans was at the last evil family picnic.

With a grimace, she pushed the chair back from the desk and adjusted her respirator before walking up to them.

When they noticed her approach some of them visibly recoiled. While Shego usually liked the fear-response she naturally induced, this time it caused her to roll her eyes.

"I won't bite," she said as she stopped in front of the terrariums. Some of the henchmen visibly relaxed, while others remained tense.

She scanned over the make-shift testing lab where the henchmen were observing mice and monkeys. One man appeared to be giving a physical exam to a monkey at the moment. There was a separate area where rows of tissue samples were being analyzed by others. Two of the henchmen were looking at samples under microscopes.

"So...you guys tired of this yet?" she said to break the ice.

The same man who had spoken before responded, apparently the most courageous.

"For me it is a nice change, since I went to school for medicine."

Shego peered at the man whose features were entirely concealed by his goggles and mask. "Yeah...what was your name again?"

"Ravinder," he supplied, lifting his goggles.

Shego studied the man, but she couldn't place him in any significant plot they had enacted before. She glanced over the other henchmen, a few of whom had paused in their work to watch her and had also lifted their goggles. Some she thought she recognized, and others she didn't. She looked for Phil, but he must have been off-duty downstairs.

"I'm Mitch," another man piped up who appeared to be giving an X-ray to a monkey.

A brief chorus of about eight more names, many overlapping, followed. Shego only caught maybe three of them. She crossed her arms, and that simple action caused a few of the men to tense.

"So this isn't driving you all nuts?" she pressed.

A few of the men looked at each other.

"Well, yeah," a man whose name she hadn't caught piped up. "But think of what we'd be doing if we weren't here."

"We'd just be stuck at home, not allowed to do anything," another said.

"No more basketball."

"Or baseball."

"No bars."

"No gym."

"No Cow & Chow."

"No dates."

They all nodded in agreement with one another and then looked at Shego expectantly. Her brow rose. Was she supposed to add something?

She declined. "Okay but, what about the fact that we're gonna be saving the world. Didn't you all sign on to do evil?"

This caused a speculative murmur to spread among the men.

"I like the idea of the fame," one of them—Jameson—said after several seconds.

A chorus of 'yeahs' followed, and Shego considered that. It hadn't occurred to her that fame would come with providing a world-saving vaccine, but, it made sense. She wondered if Drakken had thought of it.

"My cousin is a doctor," another man said. "The stress is killing him. And he's got a new baby, too. I want this all over for his sake. I don't really care how."

There was a heavy pause in the room and it took Shego only a second to realize what it was about. Even in the loose-fitting scrubs her condition was obvious to anyone paying attention. But the henchmen's healthy fear of her kept them silent, though she did catch a few casting furtive glances toward her abdomen. After a moment the henchman named Mitch cleared his throat.

"So, uh...the other day...before the testing started... You and Dr. Drakken were arguing and we thought we heard...uh...that is, you implied..."

Shego rolled her eyes and scowled as she threw her hands up. "Yes. I'm pregnant. Tell the world, why don't you..." The last was murmured as she crossed her arms and glanced away.

The henchmen had just unknowingly made her aware of another pressing issue. She was past the point of ignoring her condition, considering she couldn't work as hard in the gym and judging by the little research she'd done, needed to remove certain things from her diet. But before long the visible evidence would pass the point of 'inappropriate to ask.' Of course, the only people around were the henchmen...

Bowling and picnics were one thing. But the henchmen being her extended evil family while she was pregnant and surrounding her while she raised a baby were something else entirely. A sudden image of passing off a crying baby to a henchman while she fought Kim Possible flashed through her mind. She shook her head to wipe the image away.

She and Drakken would have to talk about the tough reality that raising a baby...raising a child...would actually be.

"So...uh...you and the boss...?" Jameson said cautiously.

"Of course me and Drakken," Shego said, frowning behind her respirator. "Who else would it be?"

Several pairs of eyes suddenly turned to a lankier, younger-looking man standing near the back of the group. Shego's eyes went wide as the man waved his hands wildly in protest.

"I'm not crushing on her!" he cried.

A few of the others began to laugh, and Shego rolled her eyes and turned to go back to the computer.

"Look, keep your sick fantasies to yourselves. The less I know..."

"Wait, uh...Miss Shego?"

"What?" she turned back to see Ravinder was speaking again.

"Phil's monkey didn't die."

Shego blinked. "Is that significant?"

"It might be...but...Phil was in charge of this one. And he's sick today. What should we do?"

Shego only heard the first part of the statement. "Whoa, whoa, wait. He's sick? What kind of sick?"

The men exchanged looks. "We don't know. He just called in sick."

Shego felt like smacking herself in the forehead. "How long has he been sick?"

A few of the men shrugged, and then Mitch raised his hand. "He was coughing a little last night. He's my roommate."

Shego shook her head. "Okay. Just...keep working and I'll check on him. And how important is it that the monkey didn't die?"

The men looked at each other again. "Well...it's the only one that hasn't died."

"Okay...okay," she said decisively. "I'll take care of it. Just keep working."

Shego debated waking Drakken then, or until after she had checked on the ill henchman. If the man had the virus...then there was a possibility that the lower level of the lair was contaminated. And she had no clue what the significance of an animal not dying was.

She went through the process of the ultrasonic bath, and then re-scrubbed before heading down to the henchmen's quarters. If the virus was down there, there was no way she was bringing it into the rest of the lair.

When she arrived at the much-smaller henchmen's quarters clearly having come from the lab, the group of men who were off-duty shied away instantly.

"Which room is Phil's?" she asked.

Several fingers pointed and she followed them to one of the closed doors along the far wall that led into a hallway.

"And relax, I put these on outside the lab," she referenced her scrubs as she made her way toward the hall. A collective sigh rose out of them, and she wondered at their fear. She had been sequestering herself deeper and deeper into the bubble of life that was the lair. And despite listening to news broadcasts almost every day, she was starting to get the sense that the outside world was...foreign.

Maybe she wasn't the only one who felt that way.

"Hey, Phil?" she called as she knocked on the indicated door with a gloved hand. "It's Shego, open up."

After a moment she heard the man call a soft, "Come in."

She turned the knob and poked just her face in as she realized she'd never seen the henchmen's bedrooms before. The room was smaller than the guest quarters Drakken had upstairs for visiting villains and looked like the dorm rooms she'd remembered seeing in college. Two bunk beds, a small closet, drawers that pulled out from under the lowest bunks, and only one desk.

It was worse than a dorm room.

Phil was leaning up on his elbow in one of the lower bunks, blankets pulled up to his chin. His eyes were bright with fever and anxious upon seeing her.

Shego sighed. "Yeah...you're gonna need to be tested again."

"I've been following all the rules," Phil protested with a cough.

"You could have gotten it before and not had any symptoms. Probably from me or Drakken..." she said with a slight growl. Drakken would be furious. And she could feel her own frustration building. They had done everything save quarantine themselves after getting well to prevent spreading the disease.

"Does he want me to come up to the lab?"

"No," Shego said, shaking her head. "Stay here... In fact, don't leave the room."

The lanky man pushed himself up to his elbows, looking almost frantic. "What if I have to use the bathroom?"

"Uh... Hold that thought."

She closed the door and turned back to where all the other off-duty men were staring at her.

"So...pretty sure Phil has the disease."

Anxious gasps and murmurs filled the small room.

"So...you'd better...um...disinfect yourselves and sanitize everything, and...oh, none of his roommates can go back in."

A man raised his hand and spoke. "How am I gonna get my stuff, M-Ma'am?"

Shego grimaced. "I haven't figured that out yet. I'll get back to you."

She started toward them and the phone sitting on an end table next to the sofa, causing all of them to take several steps back. The two men on the sofa scooted away into the far corner. The first man punched the second after he leaned into him. Shego rolled her eyes but then set her hands on her hips as she stared at the receiver. Anything in the room could be contaminated. How was she supposed to touch anything safely?

She shrugged and picked the phone up and dialed the number to the private line in Drakken's room.

 _"Huh...what? Who's calling?"_ the familiar voice came groggily through the line.

"Sorry to wake you, Dr. D.," she began apologetically.

_"Shego? What's wrong? Where are you?"_

"Down in the henchmen's quarters. It looks like one of them has caught the disease."

Shego listened to the gasp, followed by the frustrated growling that made a turn from anger to despair with characteristic rapidity.

_"How do you know?"_

"I just saw him. It doesn't look good."

The growling through the line continued.

_"All right, just...bring him to the lab for testing. I'll be right there."_

A dial tone rang in her ear and Shego replaced the receiver. The men crowded in front of her came back into focus, and they looked a mixture of scared and dismayed. She realized her pronouncement may have seemed a bit morbid.

She grimaced and sighed before turning back to Phil's room. She didn't want to worry or scare them in this particular situation, but...maybe they would be more cautious now that they knew one of their own was in danger. It might cut down the risk of death.

She knocked on the door hard three times before opening it a crack again. "All right, get dressed and do whatever business you need to. Drakken does want you in the lab."

She made sure to see Phil's quick nod of acknowledgment before closing the door again and heading back to the stairs. There was no need for her to wait for him down there. And she could get some fresh scrubs for them both anyway while he got ready.

* * *

About fifteen minutes later a very tired and worn looking Phil appeared. He'd scrubbed up more quickly than Shego would have expected, considering how rough he looked. When they entered the lab Drakken was already there, scrubbed and masked, but eyes still bloodshot.

"Ah!" he said brightly, approaching Shego and the ill henchman. "Ah..."

Shego coughed into her hand. "Phil."

"Phil!" Drakken exclaimed. "Let's get you tested and then back to bed for some rest."

Shego watched Drakken lead the man to the workbench with an arm around his back, patting his shoulder encouragingly. She blinked at the display, but only shook her head and went back to the computer. She had wanted Drakken to sleep for a few more hours, or at least until she finished the data entry.

After sitting in the chair she picked up the last paper she had worked on and then stopped. What was the point? Despite every effort, the disease was back in their ranks. Probably every one of the henchmen would get it now. They probably already had it. She put the paper down and spun in the chair.

"Drakken?" she called.

He had just swabbed Phil's cheek and was rubbing the swab into a Petri dish.

"Hm?" he said.

She stood and beckoned that he come close to her. But as he started walking, one of the other henchmen—Ravinder, if Shego remembered right—called out to him too. Drakken turned to face the crowd of henchmen that were clustered in the work area with a raised brow.

"Phil's monkey didn't die last night," the man continued.

"It didn't?" Phil said weakly.

Shego watched as Drakken's eyes went wide and he strode over to the testing area, the henchmen parting for him like the Red Sea. She shook her head and started for the door, ignoring the ultrasonic bath. One a day was enough.

She trashed the scrubs, not wanting to be too cavalier about the circumstance, and went to the kitchen. She got a glass of water and stood there staring for several minutes as she drank, and then refilled the glass. After drinking that one down too, with her mind fighting between going blank and dwelling on the various issues that were pressing on her, she went into the living room.

She realized she hadn't actually sat on the sofa since...since the day she found out she was pregnant. And immediately after had basically forced Drakken into having sex with her, even though he was sick and near death's door.

"Stupid..." she scoffed. "Stupid, selfish, irresponsible."

She pushed herself off the sofa and away from the memory and headed for the door that would lead to the beach.

* * *

The sun was high, but hidden by the crest of the ancient volcanic plug that was their favored Caribbean lair. Shego was sitting up against one of the smoother, short cliffs and watching the waves splash harshly against the black lava rock as the tide came in.

It was nice to be outside.

"Shego?" she heard Drakken call.

If only it could last.

She glanced back toward the door of the lair, several yards distant, and waited until he spotted her. She watched as he picked his away across the beach and then began climbing the dark rocks that were part of the lair's natural defense system.

"Shego, I was worried. I couldn't find you," he said impatiently as he arrived.

She didn't respond but to turn her eyes back to the horizon.

"...Shego?" he asked from where he now stood over her.

She sighed. "Did you re-test all the henchmen?"

She heard an answering sigh from where Drakken now stood above her. She looked up to see his scowling, disappointed face.

"Yes. Almost one-fourth of them have the virus."

Her gaze fell and she grimaced. They personally were now going to be responsible for the deaths of maybe several of their own henchmen. People who trusted them for everything, with only the tiny hope of a piece of the pie when the world was conquered and a meager paycheck in the meantime.

"What are you doing out here?" Drakken said.

She looked out at the white shine of the sun on the blue-gray waves.

"I want my—" She paused and considered. "I want our life back."

Drakken slowly sat down near her and crossed his legs, adjusting his lab coat over his knees. She looked at his curious, but tense expression.

"But...it's never going to be the same, is it," she continued. "Even if you...or anyone...does come up with something, or if the world actually works together and is able to stop this thing... It will be years before anything is normal again."

Drakken sighed. "Probably. It will be easier in some places..."

"We probably won't even have to fight Kim Possible anymore, now that her dad is dead."

"Nnh... Easier...to take over the world?" he suggested, though his melancholy eyes didn't match the mirth he had put into the words.

Shego turned her head slightly to meet his gaze. "So you still want to?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" he said. His eyes again gave him away.

"Dr. D... Say you do come up with a vaccine or something... Are you gonna give it away, or sell it?"

Drakken's eyes went wide. Clearly that had not occurred to him.

After several seconds of silence and the troubled darting to and fro of Drakken's eyes, Shego turned her gaze down to the waves crashing against the rocks again.

It was a question that had been tearing at her for days, almost since they began the serious testing of the vaccine candidates. She'd been distracted from it though by her worries about Drakken's lack of attention toward her and the baby. But now, with that concern resolved...her light teasing of him that had begun days earlier wasn't so funny anymore.

Mad scientist and evil dictator...or benevolent savior of the world? Either assumed he succeeded.

She pinched her eyes shut and hung her head as the crushing reality struck once again, that no matter what happened...their lives would never be the same.

"Um..."

Drakken's voice was shaky. She looked up.

"One of the vaccine tests...appears to have worked."

Her eyes widened. "What?" she breathed, her voice lost in the roar of the surf.

"That monkey that didn't die... It was infected with the virus days ago and should have died. But it appears to be producing antibodies, thanks to the vaccine..."

Shego blinked rapidly. _'He...he actually did it?'_

"What does that mean? That the vaccine works?"

"Well, on just this one animal... We're testing it now with some of the new ones that were shipped yesterday. And...we'll have to test it on humans."

Shego blinked again.

"Some of the henchmen have already volunteered. And it...ah, would be useful...to have another sample of your blood to compare the antibodies with the ones you made naturally."

Shego turned away with a scowl. "Is that why you came looking for me?"

The only answer he gave was silence.

Seconds passed where the only sounds were the waves on the rocks and the wind blowing the leaves of the few lonely palm trees that managed to cling to life on the narrow beach. Shego finally looked back to find Drakken's head hanging low and his eyes closed, his expression sorrowful. She stared for nearly a minute before he lifted his head and appeared surprised at her eye contact. His gaze turned to one of desperation.

"This is important, Shego," he pleaded.

She looked down. She was being selfish again. They had already had the conversation about how he gave attention to her. It had been one of the most painful things she had ever done, next to watching him almost die. Since really...her unnatural focus only came out of her own insecurity.

The sunlight glinted off the diamond on her ring, and she glanced at it before looking over for his. He was wearing his usual black gloves so his ring was concealed beneath.

"We might be able to save...some of them," Drakken continued.

"Hm?" Shego said.

"The henchmen," Drakken clarified, looking away with a pained grimace.

Shego reached across and set her hand on his knee as she interpreted his look. "It's not your fault they got sick."

"Of course it is! There's no one else! I should have just...just kept them quarantined and done all the tests myself."

Shego scooted to be nearer to him. "Come on, you know that's impossible. You already don't get enough sleep just doing some of the work."

"Our own men might die."

Shego considered for a moment. "Didn't you say some of them volunteered for the vaccine test?"

He looked up. "What does that have to do with it?"

"I think...most of them want you to win this time. Probably for their own reasons, but...they are..." she shrugged, " _your_ men. They all came back after you sent them home."

Drakken rested his chin on his hand, his brow remaining furrowed in frustrated thought.

"It was Phil wasn't it, whose sister died from the disease?" Shego continued.

"Hm? Oh...yes, it was. Diabetes I think. He has it too."

Shego looked down. "Wasn't he the one who said he wanted you to succeed? Before any of the others did?"

Drakken nodded as his gaze fell, his expression morphing to sadness.

"He might not make it."

Shego nodded sadly. She resolved then to at least learn the henchmen's names. And based on the way they'd talked to her in the lab...they seemed to want to be on friendly terms, rather than threatened...

"Drakken..."

He looked up. She took a deep breath.

"Are we ever going to get our life back?"

She was staring at the waves again, but she could peripherally see him smirk. He set his hand atop hers on his knee and held it.

"Stopping the pandemic will be a start," he answered.

"And then...taking over the world with a baby?" she continued. "Babies don't stay babies... They turn into toddlers, and then kids, and teenagers..."

She caught Drakken's slight grimace at the mention of teens, but didn't take offense. It wasn't like they'd had any positive experiences with teenagers to frame an opinion on.

"Would it help...to say we have each other?" he said after a moment.

She looked out at the waves again.

"And we'll still have each other," he continued, "no matter what happens."

She turned her hand over on his knee and held tight to his.

"Yes," she sighed as she stared at the horizon. "It helps."

* * *

** Day 113 **

Nine of the henchmen were quarantined in their rooms. They had been moved to be all together, while their still-healthy roommates had been moved out. Drakken's pressurized steam machine had made a grand return as the henchmen's quarters were all sterilized before the move, including the sick rooms. Due to the circumstances, Shego noticed he'd had the decency to not be excited about the invention's success.

Or maybe he was just genuinely concerned.

She had settled easily on the latter when he threw himself headlong back into the work, burning the candle at both ends and all but ignoring her again as he now had a potential working vaccine. But she pushed past the insecurity, irritation, and depression his ignoring her brought every time it chanced to threaten her as the days passed.

The situation was so much bigger than her and Drakken. Their life...could wait. But the world, and their henchmen, were dying.

Six men had volunteered for the vaccine test. Shego hadn't completely understood at first, but she came to realize a few days later that after being injected with the test vaccine, they would then be deliberately infected with the virus. As she had watched the array of men line up to be willingly infected with something potentially deadlier than the black plague by a man whose only credentials were his own grandiose claims, she couldn't decide if she should feel like a coward or like the only intelligent person in the lair. She would have never done what they were doing.

She had however, allowed her blood to be drawn and her antibodies studied. And then she received another surprising awakening when she had in complete seriousness reminded Drakken about the 'no cloning' clause of her contract. He had responded simply that if he had really wanted to clone her, he could have done so years ago. Some skin cells from where her lips touched a glass, or one of her many long hairs left on the sofa were all he would have needed. But he had honored their agreement.

Something about that revelation...made her even more attracted to him. And it was confusing. She was generally attracted to evil, not to good. But perhaps it was because he'd had the power all along and kept it to himself. He _had_ smirked a little when he revealed the truth of the matter.

Even if he was trying to save the world, there was definitely still evil in him. She hoped that whenever it was all over, they could go back to world domination.

"Hey Boss?" a now-familiar voice sounded from the testing area.

Shego spun in the computer chair to give her full attention to the exchange, everything now that happened in the lab being of utmost importance.

"Yes, what is it?" Drakken answered, turning from his microscope.

The henchman— _Sanchez_ , Shego reminded herself—was approaching the blue man and looking anxious.

"We think...Phil needs a ventilator. Or he's not gonna make it."

Shego's brow rose. She remembered the oxygen she had stolen for Drakken months ago, but he had never been so bad as to need a ventilator to breathe. And given all she had heard on the news about the effects of the disease, she realized just how lucky Drakken had been.

"Ngh. Shego?" Drakken said, immediately turning the task to her.

She knew what he wanted. For her to search on the computer for an appropriate device and then go steal it. But there was one problem with that.

"Uh, you've been watching the news. There's a shortage of ventilators worldwide."

"So what? Steal one!" he commanded sharply.

Several henchmen were watching the exchange. Shego wished again that Drakken would treat her a little less like a side-kick and more like...like...

_'His fiancée...'_

She was grateful for the defining term. Especially since her own 'good streak' was about to show, and she needed something else to anchor herself with to quell the mental battle she was also having about good and evil.

"From a hospital? From some other poor sap whose life depends on it?"

Drakken's jaw set firmly as he stared at her. But she could see behind his eyes that she had already won the argument. He couldn't do it. Not after everything they had been through in the past several months. Their own illnesses, the sick henchmen, and the memory of his mother were all very strong motivating factors in his new quest to save the world. A sliver of insecurity crept past her barriers as she reassured herself he was motivated by the baby, too.

"I'll build one," he grumbled, stalking away from his workbench and up to the computer. Shego slid the chair out of the way as he leaned over the keyboard and started researching what parts he would need.

Shego sighed. That meant going out and stealing. It wasn't that she didn't want to go out, especially to do some evil. It was that she was becoming more and more conscious of the baby's health, considering she had been the cause of the pain that had worried her so much before. It probably wasn't a good idea.

"Dr. Drakken?" a voice spoke. Shego and Drakken turned to see Ravinder hovering a few feet away. "Perhaps I can help? I have a degree in biomechanical engineering."

Shego watched the battle of pride wage in Drakken's eyes, which ended far sooner than she had expected. She had to give him credit.

"Yes. Um. Do you know how to build one?"

The man stepped up next to Drakken and Shego scooted further out of the way. This new, closer association they had both created with the henchmen was proving to be very useful. And she also noticed...the men all seemed happier too, despite the horror of the current situation. Any of them could fall prey to the disease at any time, and several of their compatriots were fighting for their lives.

She supposed there really was something to Drakken's insistence that they were an 'evil family' after all.

She rolled her eyes at herself. Of course there was. She'd studied child development. The human brain didn't stop needing relationships with other humans once it was fully developed. Even villains needed...companionship.

When Drakken and Ravinder had finished at the computer several minutes later, Shego scooted back up to work on her task. She still did data entry for the tests. Now it was all just more significant.

She glanced over her shoulder. Drakken was scribbling away at a pad of paper making the list of things to steal, she was sure. She sighed as she turned back to her own long list of numbers. The stealing would get done faster if she did it. The henchmen always took longer and sometimes didn't make it back. Then she had to break them out of jail and do the work herself anyway.

She was considering the various ways she could be more stealthy about the task she was soon to be given, and less violent for the baby's sake...when she suddenly felt cool fingers on the back of her neck, pushing her hair aside. Her gut instinct was to turn and blast the offender away, but she saw Drakken's reflection in the computer screen. He had pulled his face-mask aside. She watched as he pushed her voluminous hair out of the way and then bent down. She shivered as a small, soft kiss was placed on her neck just below her ear.

When he let her hair fall she whirled around to face him, but he had already walked away. She watched as he took the notepad from the workbench and tore out the paper he'd been writing on. He took it over to three henchmen and began instructing them on how to steal the parts.

She shook her head. Days of nothing... They were villain and side-kick again by all appearances, save her sleeping in his bed. And then out of nowhere...

The henchmen made their way to the ultrasonic bath and began arguing over who would go first while Drakken returned again to the workbench. He caught her eye and gave her a devilish grin before looking down into his electron microscope.

Another shiver raced over her skin.

* * *

** Day 116 **

Shego woke up to the sound of a loud, metallic crash. She quickly sat up from where her head had been lain on the computer desk and then immediately regretted it. Her neck twinged and she grabbed it with both hands as her eyes darted around for the source of the sound that had woken her until she spotted the only other person in the lab at the late hour.

Drakken's incoherent cursing brought her eyes to the far corner where he was hopping around on one foot while holding his other. She saw the half-constructed ventilator tipped over on the ground, its hoses splayed in multiple directions. At that moment, Drakken's foot came down on one and he slipped and fell face-first on the floor, his arms just barely softening his fall.

Shego was on her feet and running to his side before he seemed to have processed what had happened.

"You okay?" she asked as she started pulling him up by the shoulders.

He sat back heavily on the floor with a grimace of pain, gripping one of his elbows now as his body coiled tight like a spring. Shego rubbed his shoulder as she replaced one hand on the back of her neck and massaged her pulled muscle. Drakken had warned her against falling asleep in the computer chair, but she had waved him off.

He hadn't left the lab once since the stolen ventilator parts had been brought in, so she resolved not to leave him either. He had literally been working on the device day and night, forgoing sleep entirely, so that some forty-plus hours later his eyes now seemed permanently bloodshot along with the black circles underneath.

"Nnyh...nyaagh!" he cried in frustration.

She sighed. "Drakken... You've got to sleep," she said.

He shook his head and slowly started to stand, wincing with every movement.

"Phil's life could depend on this," he argued as he began pulling the ventilator upright. Several pieces had become disconnected when it fell and he scowled as he started gathering them up. "So could others!"

Shego remained kneeling on the floor and rubbed her neck with both hands, sighing deeply.

"What happened? Why did it fall?" she asked, knowing protest would be useless.

He hesitated a moment then, and she recognized the tell-tale sign in his eyes that a lie a was forthcoming.

"Drakken," she said firmly.

He sat back in his chair and sighed, rubbing his elbow again.

"I...might have dozed off," he admitted through clenched teeth.

Shego blinked. That was enough for her.

"All right. Bed. Now. Let what's-his-...Ravinder work on this instead."

The next few minutes were spent in a furious, but depthless argument as she shoved him over to the ultrasonic bath and proceeded to strip him once they were inside the large, sterile chamber.

"But what if he dies while I'm sleeping—hey!" Drakken snarled as she yanked his pants and boxers down in one rough tug.

"Against my better judgment, I'll let you get up in just a few hours. But you can't help anyone if you work yourself to death!"

Drakken continued to fume as she shoved him into the second chamber that would fill with lukewarm, highly-concentrated salt water and then proceed to clean him with ultrasonic pulses. His arguments halted suddenly as she quickly stripped down and hopped into the small chamber with him.

He was still staring at her in defiance as she activated the cleaning sequence, but the focus in his eyes had started to waver. It took Shego very little effort to understand why.

They had never bathed or showered together, and the ultrasonic chamber was designed for efficiency—there really wasn't room for two.

"This is counter-productive," he said suddenly, referring to the both of them standing inside the narrow vertical cylinder.

"You can't be trusted to take care of yourself," she argued.

She grabbed the oxygen regulator from its hook on the ceiling and held it out to him as the water approached shoulder-level, much more rapidly for their combined presence taking up more volume of the chamber than usual.

He continued glaring at her, but when the water reached her chin she only held the regulator closer to him and held her breath. She barely caught his eye-roll before the waters replaced the last of the air in the chamber and they were both left floating in the tiny space.

Drakken grabbed the regulator out of her hand and after securing it in his mouth he crossed his arms over his chest. She smirked at him and wagged her finger from side to side. She let her body go limp and floated freely in the water, none of her limbs touching as he had instructed when the device was first built. For the ultrasonic pulses to be completely effective, no part of them could touch the floor, walls, ceiling, or themselves.

In the dim blue light of the chamber—an aesthetic she was sure he had added for villainous effect—she saw him roll his eyes again as he let his arms float. She gestured for the respirator and he passed it off to her after taking a deep breath.

She only took two lungfuls of the pure oxygen before holding her breath again and returning the regulator to him. His brow rose, but she shook her head. In the exhausted state he was in, he might forget where he was and try to breathe water. She needed to keep an eye on him.

He continued staring at her in annoyance as her hair floated around and between them, their knees occasionally bumping as they tried to stay apart in the tiny chamber. A flicker caught her eye and she held up her hand to admire her engagement ring under the water. This seemed to get his attention and after a moment he looked down at his own ring thoughtfully.

She knew what he would be thinking. She waited until he looked up at her before smirking and twisting her ring around her finger. He predictably rolled his eyes and scowled behind the regulator. When he had first built the ultrasonic bath she had teased him about it being an oversized jewelry cleaner. He obviously remembered the quip.

She motioned for the regulator again and he passed it through the floating blanket that was her hair for her to take another couple of breaths before she returned it to him. They spent the remainder of the brief cleaning cycle staring almost unblinking into each other's eyes in the salt water. His ire gradually diminished into tired annoyance, and she watched his reddened eyes worriedly. She wondered if the ridiculous schedule he was keeping would make him susceptible to the disease again, or to other illnesses.

When the cleaning cycle completed the water quickly began to drain, leaving them dripping and naked in front of each other. Drakken frowned at her.

"You forgot our clothes."

Shego realized that she had, in fact, forgotten to put their clothes in the ultrasonic washer-dryer machine he had also designed. Thankfully, _she_ had had the foresight to insist that there be a robe and two towels in the third and final chamber where they would dry off, just in case.

When the water had drained and the locks released she slid past him into the last chamber and began drying herself off, refusing to acknowledge him. He wasn't getting out of sleeping.

Drakken hung the regulator back on its ceiling hook and joined her in the tiny space.

"How are we supposed to get out of here?" he said with a scowl.

Shego shrugged lightly. "You can wear the robe. I'll wear a towel," she said as she began gently wringing her hair out.

Drakken gasped, but she didn't look at him. She knew his modesty forbade either of them being in any part of the lair in that state, but, they had little choice. And she wasn't giving him one anyway.

"Come on, Dr. D. Robe."

He had been gaping at her and not drying off, so she shoved the second towel at him before she used her damp one to try to extract more moisture from her hair. She was not looking forward to her thick locks dripping down her back the whole walk back to his room.

Scowling and blushing slightly, Drakken hurriedly dried off and then shrugged into the white terrycloth bathrobe. Shego wrapped her wet towel around her and secured it well, aware of him staring at her the whole time.

"Shego...you can't go out there like that," he said warily.

"And how should I go out?" she said with a smirk, setting her hands on her hips.

His jaw worked for a moment as he looked more and more concerned.

"Well..." he said anxiously, "you can wear the robe...and I can—"

"Give me a show?" she grinned.

His cheeks reddened and he crossed his arms over the robe. She only tossed her wet hair back over her shoulder and pushed the control to open the ultra-sonic bath.

Drakken gasped at the rush of cold air and tucked the robe close to cover his chest. She held her head high as she escaped into the anteroom outside the lab that had been built just for this, and then bare-footed she exited and started briskly toward their living area.

"Shego!" Drakken hissed from behind her.

She ignored him, only glad he was following. Their clothes were a minor matter. His health was not.

She hadn't bothered checking the time when she'd been rudely awakened by the crash of the falling ventilator, but the automatic dimmed lighting of the lair told her it was past midnight. She started calculating how much sleep he might allow himself to have and how much more she could argue for as he caught up and hovered just behind her, his steps faster as he nearly jogged.

"Shego!" he hissed again.

"Whatcha afraid of?" she asked, tossing a smirk over her shoulder. She lifted her arms to stretch, tired as she still was, and her towel slipped ever-so-slightly. She heard Drakken's choked gasp as his hands were suddenly under her arms making sure the towel stayed up.

"Aww, so thoughtful," she teased. They reached his room and she turned to pat his cheek gently.

His face was turning redder and his nervousness turned back to ire.

"Shego!" he scolded more loudly.

She only chuckled as they passed into his room and he immediately locked the door. Grinning, she tossed the damp towel into the dirty laundry pile and continued across the room to the bed where she'd left her pajamas under one of his pillows.

She was gratified by the silence behind her that told her he was holding his breath, but when she turned he wasn't staring in the way she had expected. He was shaking his head at her antics, and then with a grimace he headed the other direction toward his wardrobe.

Shego frowned and turned to the clean laundry pile for some underwear.

"Two hours," came the frustrated voice from across the room.

Shego whirled around, her eyes wide.

"Whoa no. Absolutely not. Five hours minimum."

"Every minute counts, Shego, or did you forget?" he said, peeking around the wardrobe door to scowl at her.

She dressed quickly and frowned at the memories of caring for him while he'd been ill. With his high fever and labored breathing, she'd been afraid even her constant attentions wouldn't be enough. The reminder had the desired, sobering effect.

"Two," she said quietly as she crawled beneath the bedsheets and curled up on her side, facing away from him.

She remembered his agony in the two weeks immediately following his mother's death. She didn't know...what she would have done, if she had lost him.

"But Dr. D., it's just as dangerous not to get any sleep," she protested quietly, staring away at the wall. "You can't help anyone if...if you..."

She felt Drakken's weight slowly sink into the mattress behind her and a second later the lights went out. She relaxed slightly when he pressed up behind her to spoon her.

"I'm used to staying up for days," he said. "You've just never noticed."

She frowned. "Yes I did. But—"

"But you weren't in love me then so you didn't care?" he sniped.

She pinched her eyes shut. "No. You were healthier then. You weren't still recovering from a life-threatening illness." She rolled onto her back to peer up at him. "Do you ever look in a mirror? You've lost weight, and you barely eat anymore which makes it worse. You look..."

He scowled deeply. "Older?"

"Well yeah. Illness can have life-changing effects, Doc. I..."

She rolled back to her side as she felt the threat of tears in her eyes. She blinked rapidly to banish them.

He set his arm heavily across her, and she peered down at the gold of his ring standing out against the blue of his skin and the red of the blankets. She patently ignored all the usual pulls toward frustration and insecurity in her head and let her heart speak instead.

"I want to marry you, Dr. D. I want to raise our kid, and...rule the world with you. And then grow old with you," she said quietly. "I don't want to lose you...now that I've finally got you."

Silence was his reply, and she closed her eyes and focused on his warmth at her back. On the rare occasions he did sleep and she found herself in his embrace, it was much easier to forget the horrors of the world outside and just focus on the joy inside their secret world.

"Three hours," he said, his voice startling her.

A tiny smile quirked at the corner of her mouth for just a moment, but she couldn't hold it knowing that he'd been awake for almost forty-eight hours. Three hours of sleep was far from enough.

Just then his hand slid beneath the blankets and came to rest on the now-ample swell of her abdomen. She couldn't have shut down her smile even if she wanted to.

"Would you like to get married on the beach?" he asked suddenly.

She opened her eyes and blinked into the green-hued glow of the darkened room.

"Why the beach?" she asked.

"You're always going on vacation to warm, sunny places," he reasoned.

She closed her eyes again and imagined the scene as his hand moved in slow circles over her pregnant belly.

"Sunset..." she sighed happily and smiled.

"A gentle breeze...blowing through the palm leaves."

"Making them applaud," she finished the thought. She grinned at the memory of the conversation they'd had once, after a particularly long-winded monologue he had given one night pacing up and down their tiny strip of volcanic beach. She had only stared boredly when he looked at her for a response, and he snapped that at least the trees were clapping.

"And I'll sing something."

She rolled her eyes beneath her closed eyelids. "Of course you will..." She let herself drift back into the daydream. "And...we'll dance under the stars..."

"You'll wear a white dress..."

She laughed aloud and shifted to look at him. "Me? Wear white?"

He blinked at her through the dim, green light from the moat. "Why wouldn't you?"

"Because..." Her laughter died as she saw the genuine lack of understanding on his face. "Never mind."

She grinned and rolled back over to enjoy his soft rubbing of her stomach.

"I want you to wear a white dress," he said after a moment. He sounded almost hurt that she might not.

"Okay," she said, pressing back against him. Whatever he wanted was fine, whether it made sense or not. "As long as I get to marry you."

His other hand was suddenly behind her head, gently pushing her damp hair aside. He kissed the back of her neck briefly, and she shivered from head to toe as she remembered when he had done the same thing in the lab a few days before.

Shego smiled again. It was clear that the difficult conversation they'd had a week prior, painful as it had been, was the reason for their seemingly better understanding of each other. She wasn't bothered by his work obsession anymore, except that it threatened his health. But she knew he wasn't ignoring her or the baby. And he had made the deliberate effort in the lab with that kiss to let her know she wasn't just a lackey, and that he really was aware of her.

She sighed happily. She felt more relaxed than she had in days with his hand warmly covering her belly. Even though the peace would only last a few hours...she would cherish every moment of it.

She was startled suddenly when his hand left her abdomen and slipped between her thighs. Her breath caught as he gently rubbed down along her leg almost to her knee, and then back up again.

_'This is new...'_

She snuggled back against him as he continued the gentle massage of her leg, closing her eyes and focusing on the sensation. He had never been so boldly affectionate without her doing something to precipitate it... Even the kiss in the lab was huge for him. She wondered what, if anything, had changed. Her antics after the bath maybe...?

She sighed contentedly as he squeezed her leg, but then his hand was gone. She opened her eyes and frowned though he couldn't see it, but then was startled again as his hand reappeared in the center of her chest and began unbuttoning her pajama shirt.

_'Definitely new...'_

She realized then that she could feel him shaking slightly and wondered at that. Was he nervous to touch her? She had never been shy about being close to him. But, she realized...she always initiated every intimate moment between them. This was the first time he had done so. Maybe that was why he was shaking.

She shifted to lay on her back as half of her shirt was pulled open, and she caught just a glimpse of the smile in his eyes before he kissed her shoulder. He took his time, his kisses slowly traveling along her collarbone and then down her chest. A soft gasp left her lips as his found a particularly sensitive spot. She grabbed his shoulder tightly as he pushed aside the other half of her shirt, the massage resuming in a very different location.

Her back arched when his lips and hand exchanged roles, her arms going around his waist and her fingers digging into his thin flesh. In a brief moment of lucidity through her growing arousal, she realized again that he was shaking.

"Mmmh..." she hummed in pleasure, hoping to calm him as she slid her hands up under the back of his shirt. She made eye contact with him and smiled. "What do you want me to do for you now?" she breathed.

He seemed surprised by the question and his voice shook when he answered, a touch of anxiety in his eyes. "Ah...a-anything. I'm all yours."

Something in her mind clicked as she remembered part of the conversation they had had the week before, when they had lain on the bed and he had asked to feel for the baby's movements for the first time. He'd seemed surprised when she told him he didn't need to ask.

_"I'm all yours."_

His change of attitude and behaviors toward her suddenly made sense in light of that conversation, and a peace flooded her soul as she relaxed further into his sensuous touch. All those weeks she had worried...for absolutely nothing. He hadn't been ignoring her at all.

He had just been waiting for permission.

Suddenly his attentions stopped, and she looked up into his eager yet shy eyes.

"Last week, you said you were going to...teach me something?" he said.

She shook her head. "Maybe later," she breathed. "I like where this is going."

His brow rose, and she rubbed his back gently to encourage him. A few seconds later he resumed his attentions. She bit her lip as she tossed her head back against the pillow and smiled.

* * *

It wasn't too long after that Shego lay on her side again, trembling from her head to her toes in post-coital rapture. She had never felt that way before, with every part of her body electrified in pleasure and her heart so full she felt it might burst. She thought she might melt. She thought she might fly. She thought she might shatter into a million pieces of light. Nothing in her memory had ever made her feel the way she felt right then.

Awareness of her surroundings returned as Drakken's weight fell behind her. He tossed the bedsheet up over them before he carefully moved her hair out of his way and then lay down, gently spooning her. One of his hands rested on the back of her shoulder while his other moved protectively over her abdomen.

Something about that touch sent her further over the edge. She grabbed his hand tightly. Suddenly tears were staining her cheeks as silent sobs began shaking her all the more.

_'What is this...?'_

"Shego?" Drakken asked breathlessly, peering at her face. She turned her head to see his concerned eyes, framed in part by his dark hair stuck to his sweat-dampened brow.

She wanted to look into his eyes forever. She wanted to hear his voice forever, no matter what he was saying. She wanted to stare at him, to touch him...to hold him and never let go. She wanted to crawl inside his soul and rest there for all time. She felt part of her was already there and always would be.

_'This is love... This is being in love...'_

She lifted a shaking hand to his cheek. "I love you so much," she managed to say through her tears.

He looked surprised and delighted at her words, but still concerned. "I love you, too."

She lifted her head and pressed her trembling lips to his as her tears continued to fall. She should have been embarrassed, she realized, but she couldn't be. All she wanted was more of him.

She shifted closer to him as she continued to kiss him softly, feeling that her very life depended on the tender touch. And what kept the waves of bliss thrumming in her heart was his hand still covering the swell of her pregnant belly, delicately rubbing back and forth over the sensitive area.

She finally dropped her head back to the pillow, breathless and all her energy spent. His eyes were still concerned as he looked at her tears.

"I love you," she breathed. His expression remained the same. She lifted her hand again and lightly ran her fingers over his lips and down his chin. "I love you... I'm so in love with you, Drakken."

He blinked rapidly, and she saw the tell-tale brightness as tears began forming in his eyes. He began to lift his hand off her belly, but she gripped it tightly with her own and pressed his hand down.

"Don't stop," she pleaded. He resumed the slow rubbing of her abdomen as she let her eyes fall closed. Her shaking was subsiding, though tears continued to slip down her cheeks. She tucked herself back against him and with her free hand pulled the bedsheet up higher to her shoulder. She felt him lay his head down and press more tightly against her as she sighed blissfully into his touch. And with the feeling of his heartbeat and breaths at her back and the gentle rubbing of her pregnant belly, Shego was lulled into a deep sleep.

* * *

** Day 117 **

_She took a sharp breath in through her nose._

_"Ohh..." she released it in a shaky sigh._

_She leaned her head against his and closed her eyes while his chin rested against her shoulder. They clung to each other, the naked flesh of their chests pressing even more tightly together as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Their breaths came in time as they both rested in and came down from their high, the occasional movement of one or the other's hips a temptation into further passions. But they were both absolutely spent._

_Her breathing began to calm and she focused on the feel of him, his skin hot and his muscles tense within her embrace._

_Her eyes opened. He was shaking._

_She began wondering at that but had only barely started before her own insecurities started knocking at her mind's door._

_What on earth had they been thinking? What had_ she _been thinking?_

_His tension and shaking seemed to be growing and she became aware he was holding her tighter. And then, a drop of moisture hit her shoulder. Was he crying?_

_She began loosening her grip on his back and found herself immediately released. She moved off of his lap in one swift motion and had her back to him as she pulled the bedcovers down._

_"Come on," she said as she slid beneath his sheets, grinning but not making eye contact. "I don't know about you, but I'm gonna get a good night's sleep."_

_He was more slow to join her in the bed, but when he did she briefly caught sight of his anxious eyes. He was still shaking. And he lay down a good two feet away from her in the massive bed. She gave him a content smirk and grabbed one of his hands before closing her eyes and willing herself to sleep._

_There was no point in stressing about what had just happened right then. She could analyze everything in the morning._

* * *

Shego's eyes opened as the dream faded into darkness. She stared without focus into the artificially-lit and slightly greenish glow of Drakken's bedroom in the morning.

_'Why did I dream about our first time...?'_

She glanced down to where his arm lay heavily across her middle under the blankets. The bedcovers had slid down slightly during the night, and she could just see the reflecting glint off of his gold ring. She moved her hand to rest atop his, entwining their fingers so their rings were side-by-side. She felt a rush looking at the two symbols of the commitment they already had in their hearts.

_'I want to marry you, Drakken...'_

She felt him shift slightly and realized he was awake too. She twisted her head back to smile at him, but was startled to see a look of anxiety similar to that from her dream on his face. She rolled onto her back to see him more comfortably, and he blinked away the look to smile at her tiredly.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

His eyes widened and he glanced away, clearly uncomfortable with being caught. She brought their joined hands up to rest on her chest as she watched him in concern, waiting. After several seconds his eyes returned to hers with a sigh.

"I was just...wondering..." he began uneasily, "if you...um..."

She rolled on her side to face him and set her arm around him, trailing her nails lightly up and down his back. She smiled encouragingly.

"You...love me," he stated, clearly the precursor to a question. Her brow rose and she smirked lightly as she nodded. "Do you love me for more than...um...this?"

She watched his cheeks redden and his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed nervously. It took a few seconds before his meaning hit her. She chuckled even as another rush of joy flooded her senses. She pressed into him and kissed him softly.

"Mmm, this is just a bonus," she said, running her nails up his back again.

"Ow!" he hissed and pulled away from her.

Her lips parted in shock and she leaned up on her elbow to look at him.

"What?"

"You touched the burn," he said, settling back down cautiously.

"Burn?"

He blinked at her and then his eyes narrowed. "Yes."

"What?" she asked, her brow furrowing.

"Where you burned me last night."

They stared at one another in confusion, and Shego peered at his shoulder where his skin was definitely blistered.

"I...what?" she said.

"You don't remember?" He looked a mixture of confused and wary.

"No... Did I pass out or something?"

He shook his head as he pushed himself up to sit cross-legged. "I don't think so... Your eyes were closed, but..."

Shego thought of the previous night's passions. "...I was screaming?"

Drakken nodded.

Shego rolled her eyes at herself. It hit her that maybe if she would leave him more room to talk, he would; he hadn't said much the night before that she could recall, but his silence didn't bother her anymore.

"What happened? How did I burn you?"

He blushed slightly. "Your hands lit up while you were holding my shoulders, and I grabbed your right wrist and told you to stop. But you...didn't seem to be listening. And when I got your left wrist my shoulder was already burned."

She frowned as her vision clouded. She didn't remember any of that.

"Then what happened?"

Drakken looked at her curiously, and still a bit warily.

"I held your wrists up so you wouldn't burn me or...anything else. Until it stopped. You weren't listening to me."

Shego's brow furrowed in concern. She pushed herself up and after covering herself with her hair, hugged herself.

"You...don't remember that?" he asked tentatively.

She glanced up. He looked...almost afraid of her. She hugged herself tighter and looked down, shaking her head.

What he was implying was very disturbing. Except for right after the comet struck, she couldn't remember a time when she'd not been in total control of her glow. And twice now she'd been totally unaware of the danger she had posed because of it. Danger to him...and to herself and the baby, if she had caught the bed on fire.

_'Why don't I remember?'_

She glanced up again. "I was screaming?"

He nodded, still looking wary.

She considered the short list of things she might have said, but none made sense in the context of their activities and him trying to protect himself at the same time.

She took a deep breath and grit her teeth as blood rushed to her cheeks. "What was I screaming?"

"...'Don't stop'."

She looked away and scowled at herself as her cheeks darkened further. She could imagine a moment like that, but she wasn't sure if it was a memory or not. And she still didn't remember her hands glowing.

"When did the glow stop?"

"A few minutes later," he said, shifting to lean on his hand and right hip.

As she looked at the wariness that didn't show any signs of fading from his eyes she began to feel a churning deep in her stomach that had nothing to do with morning sickness.

"Why? How?" she asked, as she stared down at her hands which she'd moved to rest atop her folded knees.

He shook his head slightly. "There...didn't seem to be any reason."

"Oh."

She was racking her brain, trying to think of any moment that reflected what he was telling her. But she couldn't remember. And he said she hadn't passed out.

Staring at her hands they suddenly felt foreign, as if they weren't hers. She lifted them and ignited them, slowly intensifying the glow until she could feel the heat herself. Drakken leaned back from her experiment, watching her cautiously. She diminished the glow and let it die, the power responding to her commands in the reflexive way it always had.

Nothing seemed to be wrong. And yet Drakken was still looking at her as if he was almost afraid. And why couldn't she remember!?

"Sorry," she said, dropping her gaze to her lap again. A weight was settling onto her chest as she considered all the possible implications of her apparent lack of control. What if something was wrong with her? And what new dangers could that bring?

The mattress sank slightly as he shifted closer to her, and she looked up for a brief moment of eye contact before his arms gently embraced her. He didn't look as cautious as he had only moments before.

"It's all right," he said. His tone was a bit flat. She wondered...if he would always be afraid of her now when they wanted to be intimate.

She set her chin on his shoulder and hugged him loosely around his waist. She sighed heavily and let her mind wander... And it wandered back to her dream, and the question he had asked when she woke up a few minutes earlier.

"Did anything else happen?" she asked, slowly pulling back to look at him.

His expression darkened slightly. "You don't remember?"

She rubbed his arms up and down as a tiny smirk found its way to her features along with a flush. "I remember you're incredible."

He blushed, but his expression became anxious again. She let her hands fall to her lap as she shifted back slightly.

"How come...you only say sweet things when we...?" He trailed off, and she was tempted to laugh off the question. But she could see by the dark look in his eyes that he took it very seriously. So she considered for a long moment before answering.

"Don't know if you've noticed..." she began slowly. "But I'm not exactly a 'sweet' person."

His lips twitched.

"It's easier to say that kind of stuff when we're like this." She leaned back in and gently set her arms around him, watching out for the burn on his shoulder. "It's just easier. And..."

She considered briefly her assessment of herself. It was true, she wasn't naturally affectionate or doting or any of the things that seemed to come more easily to him. And he'd fallen in love with her the way she was. However...it couldn't hurt her to operate outside the box, just a little...

She lowered her voice to a near-whisper. "I fall in love with you more every day. So I have more to say than I used to."

She pressed her lips to his ear in a soft kiss. She began moving them around to his lips when he leaned back with a sudden gasp.

"It's after six!" he cried, peering through the dark at the digital clock in his headboard.

Shego grimaced. "You really know how to kill the mood, Doc."

"We slept for five hours!"

"Pretty sure we were very awake for at _least_ the first thirty minutes," she smirked at him.

He scoffed and shook his head as he leapt out of the bed and dashed for the bathroom. Shego sighed and lay back down, resting her hands over her midsection. She'd gotten him to get a little sleep, at least...

The idea suddenly hit her that she could seduce him every night if it meant getting him to sleep more. But she realized he would probably figure it out, and who knew what the ramifications of that type of manipulation might be. She shook her head as she grimaced.

_'Bad idea...'_

She sighed and listened to the running water of the shower that signaled he was dead-set on starting the day. She wondered if he would remember to eat something or if she would have to force him into consuming one of her protein bars while he hovered over the half-built ventilator. Probably the latter.

She yawned and sat up slowly, stretching as she peered around the room for his robe. After shrugging into it she lay down again and started counting the seconds. Knowing how Drakken was when in a rush, his shower would take less than five minutes and then she could hop in.

Her thoughts drifted back to his explanation of the uncontrolled burst of her powers. The burn she had given him was very slight, but considering his claim that she had apparently been fairly lost in her own world, and that he had held her hands up for several minutes until her glow went out...and that she couldn't remember any of it... It was an issue of great concern.

What if it happened again?

She hated to add another problem to what was already the most difficult situation they had ever found themselves in, but it was serious.

She heard the water stop running, and she hurried over to the bathroom.

"Yahh!" was Drakken's startled cry as she threw open the door, holding a towel up to his chest protectively. "Oh. It's you," he said, chest heaving as he relaxed and leaned against the bathroom counter.

"Who else would it be? Look, we need to figure out what's wrong with my powers."

She watched Drakken's face as he dried off, weighing what she had said against everything else going on she was sure. Finally, he sighed.

"It will have to wait."

"I have records—" she blurted out, and then stopped. He looked at her with a raised brow as he secured a towel around his waist. She bit the inside of her cheek.

"Records?" he probed.

She stepped past him and turned the shower back on. She hadn't meant to say that. She had never told... _anyone_...

"What kind of records?"

She glanced back at him, and then stared blankly away into a corner, her eyes glazing over. Her heart was beating hard in her chest. But she forced herself to begin speaking. And once she had, the words came in a rush.

"From after the comet hit. I stole them when I escaped from Global Justice. They ran tests on my brothers and I for years. I've read them before, but I don't understand most of it."

She said it all in one breath and drew in a huge lungful of air as she leaned up against the frame of the shower stall. No one knew... No one had ever known... She had worked so hard to erase the past...

"Global Justice?" she heard him sneer after a moment.

She couldn't look up, for fear her excited nervous system would collapse if she saw what she knew would be curiosity in his eyes. She forced her lips open one more time.

"They created Team Go."

She leaned forward and rested her forehead on the cool metal of the shower stall, trying to calm down. She hadn't gotten worked up like that...since she thought Drakken was dying.

"Shego... What's...your real name?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After a moment, she pursed her lips and shook her head. Drakken could find out whatever he wanted to about her past after she handed the records over to him. He would have more luck deciphering all the scientific aspects of it than she ever had, and then maybe—she grit her teeth—run some tests on her and figure out what was wrong.

She suddenly found it hard to breathe and sat down right there on the bathroom floor, leaning up against the wall and drawing her knees up to her chest. She leaned back and stared into the darkness of her eyelids as she listened to the running water of the shower and forced herself to breathe slowly. But it didn't seem to be helping.

She startled suddenly as she felt Drakken sit next to her. She opened her eyes and stared straight ahead to where the stream from the shower was hitting the tiles below. Hot steam was rising and beginning to cloud the small room.

He carefully lifted her left hand off of her knee where it had rested, and then her right. She glanced over as he brought her hands up toward his face, the fluorescent light from above causing her diamond ring to sparkle. He kissed her left palm long and soft, and then her right.

A lump rose in Shego's throat. He glanced down and made eye contact with her.

She nearly knocked his head back into the wall as she threw her arms around him and pressed her face into his neck, a dry sob escaping her chest.

"How do you always know what to do?" she asked as she pulled back to look at him, tears stinging her eyes.

He was without answer and shrugged after a moment, his concern for her having taken over his features.

She kissed him and then leaned her head on his shoulder, feeling the reassurance of his arms protectively surrounding her. He wouldn't use her past and all of her secrets to manipulate her... She could trust him.

He kissed her cheek. "Take the day off."

She grimaced, but nodded.

"I...need to go back to the lab," he said hesitantly. "But I can start working on this too."

She sat upright and shook her head. "You were right. It's not a priority."

"Of course you are," he said, kissing her cheek again.

Then he was on his feet and starting toward the door. She stood up as he hesitated, looking back at her in concern.

"Go on," she said, waving him away as a tear slipped down her cheek.

He left her alone, and after a heavy sigh she discarded his robe and entered the hot shower, adjusting the temperature of the water before stepping beneath the stream.

Her nervous system was probably a neurologist's nightmare at the moment for how on edge and fearful she was about disclosing her past, all while being flushed with adoration and desire for her husband-to-be.

He was a dream come true. Not any dream she'd ever actually had, but...thinking back to her impulsive kiss nearly four months prior that had started everything...she never could have imagined being in love the way she was at present. They had gone from terrified, awkward, lustful, and distant...to confident, comfortable, loving, and closer than she knew was possible.

And it wasn't because the pandemic had forced them together... _'No,'_ she banished that thought as it resurfaced. It was just them. Both of them being brave enough to try.

She remembered her odd dream about the first night they had spent together on New Year's, as close physically as two people could ever be but emotionally distant as their fears had reigned. She knew from experience that fear was one of the most powerful weapons... But she herself hadn't been its prey for years, until they had taken what might have been a premature step.

She wondered then how much of Drakken's drive to create the vaccine was motivated by fear, and just what it was that he might be afraid of. They had both survived, their baby was healthy, and the henchmen... Well, he did care for them. But he was also just as likely to fire them for an inane mistake and get new ones the next day.

She knew he was still grieving his mother, and had an empathy toward anyone suffering in that regard; no matter how evil he claimed to be, he hadn't lost his humanity.

She thought about his constantly bloodshot eyes and ridiculous insistence that if he just never slept that somehow they could finish the vaccine sooner. Killing himself wouldn't make it go any faster. There were biological processes involved that would not be rushed, no matter how many hours he stayed awake.

Shego turned off the shower and made to dry off, feeling more grounded about her own circumstances and determined to both help Drakken succeed, and make sure he came out of the crisis with his health intact. It was far, far too easy to dwell on their microcosmic world inside the lair and forget...

Everywhere in the world there was someone facing crisis, just like them. Other people were sick and wondering if that day would be their last on the Earth. Other people were dealing with the loss of loved ones, both unexpected and sudden, and slow, lingering deaths. Other women were pregnant and worrying about the health of their child.

And like her, other people were struggling with the isolation and inherent feelings of facing the fight alone that the quarantine had brought. Many people...probably were alone.

Shego selected some comfortable clothes, her resolve growing. Maybe it was everything she had just considered that had been driving Drakken throughout the pandemic—the awareness and empathy for people suffering. After all...she had never thought him to be quite as evil as she was.

She startled as the door unexpectedly slid open, Drakken rushing in with his lab coat flapping behind him and his hair still damp. A lump leapt into her throat at the horror-stricken look in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" she asked quickly.

"Phil is dead."

* * *

** Day 120 **

Shego stood pressed against Drakken's left side in the hover-car where they hovered about thirty feet above the surface of the ocean. She had stayed at a formal distance when it was his turn to speak, but once watching eyes were off of him she was at his side again with her arms tight around his waist.

Phil's family had agreed to a burial at sea.

His former roommate Mitch had gone through his personal belongings, found the phone numbers to call, and had the difficult task of informing the family who had already lost a young daughter that they had lost their nineteen-year-old son as well.

Shego had learned that the family was aware of his villainous pursuits and had maintained a positive relationship anyway, hoping it was just youthful rebellion. All of his roommates had assured them that it was just that, though any relief they may have felt was far surpassed by the loss.

The entire fleet of hover-cars—the six in working order—were out over the ocean about three miles from the lair, crammed to capacity with henchmen. Even the short-range hover-scooter was being utilized for the occasion, precariously holding Phil's three ill roommates. The rest of the sick including those testing the vaccine had been forced into a single vehicle. Shego and Drakken occupied their own car, which Shego felt slightly guilty about considering how many men were crammed into all of the others, but not guilty enough that she wanted them crammed into theirs.

The sky was filled with spotty clouds that day, causing shadows to fall over the waters. Small glimmers of sunlight peeked through as if they were trying to tear back the clouds, and the combination of light and shadow with the movement of the waves made the entire surface of the ocean look like a waving flag. It was an indefinable yet somehow appropriate atmosphere the weather had created for the task they were burdened with that day.

They were only three miles out from the lair because Drakken was concerned about the cellular signal; Phil's family were listening over Mitch's phone, and Drakken's service would regularly get cut off when the local islands' governments discovered his hack into their service.

Drakken had spoken first, his words brief, well-rehearsed, and heartfelt. Shego wondered if he hadn't done a web search for comments to make at funerals. But even if he had, the stiff set of his jaw was enough to tell everyone listening that he meant every word.

Phil's three roommates—Mitch, A.J., and Tony, who also had the disease—were taking turns speaking from the hover-scooter, their words frequently broken by violent coughs. Shego kept glancing up at Drakken from where her head was leaned against his chest. He kept his head held high and his face still as he listened to the stories and memories about the young henchman who had so quickly succumbed to the illness.

Drakken had suffered the loss with an emotional crash nearly as bad as with his mother's death. Shego had spent that entire day convincing him that it wasn't his fault, and also to her annoyance that it wasn't her fault for dragging him away from the ventilator construction. He had eventually admitted that he wouldn't have been able to finish building it in time, and she also got him to acknowledge that even if he had, it wouldn't have mattered; people in hospitals on ventilators were still dying.

The next day he had built the coffin. He insisted on doing it without help, even when several of the henchmen offered. Shego thought it must have been some form of therapy for him, though how exactly she wasn't sure. But it did the trick of at least getting him nearer to the place where he just obsessed about the vaccine again and wasn't looking on the brink of crumpling under the weight of his own guilt.

"My favorite thing about Phil," Mitch was saying, "was when he'd play his guitar. He seemed to go to another place."

"Trans-...transcen—" A.J. couldn't finish the word for his coughing.

"Transcendence," Mitch finished with a nod. "And he was always offering to teach us."

"Seemed like all his problems went away when he'd play," Tony added.

"And so did some of ours when we'd hear him," A.J. added, finally getting his breath back.

Shego thought back to the evil family picnic from the previous summer and tried to remember if Phil had been there. He may not have been on the books yet. She certainly couldn't remember any of the henchmen ever playing an instrument where she could hear it. But then, she had always participated to the bare minimum at the picnics, staying on the fringes and as far away from the activity as Drakken would let her get away with.

She decided then that at the next evil family picnic...if the pandemic was ended in time for them to have one that summer...she was going to pay attention.

The three henchmen on the hover-scooter finished their combined eulogy, and then all eyes turned to Drakken. He tensed further as he nodded to Shego, who had quickly released him so as not to soften his image. She pressed the control that released the coffin that had been hanging by chain beneath their vehicle.

She leaned far over the side just in time to see the splash as the wooden box hit the ocean's surface and then bobbed up and down atop the waves. After a moment she felt Drakken slowly move beside her and peer down.

A henchman named Claudio who Shego had previously only noted for his seemingly too-massive-to-be-useful size, began singing 'Amazing Grace.' It turned out that in his former life he had been an opera singer and his family had ties with the Italia mafia.

As the coffin slowly vanished during the song, Shego couldn't help but think how ironic it was to have a song of faith at the memorial of a villain. She would have remarked on it if Drakken weren't so rigid beside her, his nerves wound so tight she thought at any moment he might snap.

As for the henchmen, Shego could hear a few sniffles from the gathering of hover-cars surrounding them (and endless coughs from the sick), but not too many to suggest a loss of dignity. Although, in that circumstance...she couldn't consider it weakness. She knew she would have made a far more pathetic showing if Drakken had died.

The song finished, and the coffin fully submersed and out of sight beneath the dark waters, the henchmen turned their cars and the hover-scooter back toward home. Shego reached for their own car's controls, but Drakken's hand over hers stopped her.

She watched as he straightened up and surveyed the henchmen's departure, his eyes clouding. Shego slowly stood up and held her breath as she watched him. He had the same haunted expression he'd had when looking out at the vacant parking lot of Everything-A-Dollar, and the abandoned public park they had walked in weeks ago.

The henchmen's hover-cars became small gray blips in the distance, the dark silhouette of the lair poking up from the edge of the water looking exactly like what it was—something out of place, like it didn't belong. Just like the people who called it home. People who had turned their backs on society for one reason or another, and who used each other for the justification of their illicit actions.

But what they had all experienced that day in Phil's loss revealed that they had at least some humanity left. And as Shego looked at Drakken's distressed expression, she knew between the pair of them who had the most.

His eyes came away from the lair and moved out to the left. Shego followed his gaze and saw the hazy darker-gray bumps on the horizon that were the island countries of the Caribbean—places they regularly bought and stole from, and where Shego had been lost and poisoned just trying to buy toilet paper—places that reminded them that there was still a world out there.

"I'm sorry...Shego," Drakken said slowly, his voice just above a whisper.

Shego turned and looked up at him sharply. "What?"

"I'm sorry, I...I can't do it."

Her stare was unblinking as she held her breath, waiting for him to continue.

"I know...it would be the most evil thing we—that I've ever done. I would be..." he grimaced and closed his eyes, "undeniably the most evil person in all of history. Of all time. Some might even say...I was more evil than Satan himself."

The salty winds blew their hair as they remained standing in the craft hovering above the choppy waves. Shego hugged herself against the chill but didn't take her eyes off his face. She already knew what he was going to say... She already knew what she was going to say in response. But she also knew...he needed to say it all first. So she waited.

"But I..." he shook his head in slow disbelief at himself, staring over her head at the distant islands. "I can't. I can't do it."

He sank down to the seat and buried his face in his hands. She tentatively sat in her seat and leaned forward with her elbows on her knees, listening.

His hands slid slowly down his face until they pulled at his lower lip and then rested in shaking fists under his chin. His eyes were more dark and hollow than ever, and they seemed to be permanently bloodshot, for he had slept scarcely more than six hours in the days since Phil had died. That, compounded with the lack of sleep he'd had before and the almost total lack of food, Shego was surprised his body hadn't simply given up.

"We— I— We would be ruling the world overnight," he continued. "And we would have allies. They would fight for our allegiance while we play them like...mere infantry, while we hold the nuclear weapons. No one would _ever_ be able to stop us. It's almost...too perfect. It's more evil than anything I've ever imagined."

Shego hugged herself again as images flashed through her mind of what he was saying. World leaders bargaining with them, making illicit deals, betraying former allies as if they were fodder—all for the sake of gaining the good graces and being number one in the eyes of the man who held all the cards...Dr. Drakken. And she would be at his side, sharing in every deception and every spoil, even calling some of the shots if it suited their whims. And whims they could spare, with the great power they would wield over every living soul on the Earth.

He was right. History _would_ judge them more evil than Satan.

Shego realized that a contented smirk had found its way to her lips and eyes as she imagined the future he had outlined. The desire for it tore at her like an unquenchable thirst, so much so that she licked her lips in anticipation.

She felt him looking at her and focused in on his gaze. The desire, the hunger was in his eyes too. And for a moment they shared in that lustful understanding of all they could have...

The world. They could have the _world._

She wanted to kick her feet and laugh in delight, to wickedly relish in all they could do... But in his eyes, greater than the hunger and the desire...was agony. Fresh, overwhelming, and excruciating.

With an extreme effort she forced her smirk to lessen and her eyes to soften from their hard glitter to something more approachable. His eyes pleaded with her desperately, as if whatever action she took next would mean his life or death.

"So it works," she stated through her smile, leaning back comfortably in the seat.

After a brief hesitation, he nodded. "Jasper, Sanchez, Yaseen," he murmured as if in awe as he numbered each volunteer off on his fingers, "Luis, Johnson, and Scott. All...all producing antibodies, and not even a sign of any symptoms."

Shego slid across the center console and sat half on top of it and half on his lap. He leaned back slightly with a look akin to disappointment, but she ignored it as she brought her fingers up to stroke his jaw.

" _Mad_ scientist," she grinned, drawing the words out with a slowness that was somewhere between mocking and adoring as her fingers lightly stroked his chin. "Evil genius."

He gently grabbed her hand and brought it down to her lap, holding it there. The pain and pleading in his eyes served to extinguish the last of the wild dreams his words had kindled within her. It was with surprising ease she put them back in the designated compartment of her mind to await a more appropriate time for release.

Drakken shook his head, his eyes despondent. "I can't do it. Please, Shego... I'm sorry. I _want_ to...but I...I _can't_..." he pleaded with her. "I can't hold the world hostage."

She entwined her fingers with his and brought her other hand up to cup his cheek as she slowly leaned in closer to him.

"I don't want you to."

He blinked and shook his head in disbelief.

"What?" he asked.

"I said...I don't want you to."

His eyes widened as he stared at her in fascination, as if she were an alien just landed in his lap. She brought her hand down to stroke his jaw again as she leaned in closer and lowered her voice to a whisper.

"Give the vaccine away. Save the world."

His soft gasp and the tremble of his lower lip were the first sign of his breaking. And then with a sigh that seemed to give up his final reserves of strength he crumpled down into the seat, all of his fear, worry, and grief lifting off of him at once. Shego's smile faded as she looked at him, his eyes closed and his chest momentarily stilled. Then it rose again with too quick and too shallow a breath. He looked old, wasted, and barely alive.

She slid her arms around his shoulders and slowly pulled him forward again. He blinked several times as if just waking up, his eyes briefly scanning his surroundings before finding her face.

"Shego..." he breathed.

She pulled him into a gentle hug, and a moment later felt him return it warmly. She shifted her face to whisper in his ear.

"I love you, Dr. D."

She felt him heave once, twice...and then he was gently pushing her back. His face was wet with tears that he ignored as the desperation was back in his eyes.

"We're wasting time," he said. "People are dying."

She frowned lightly, but she continued to hold him and began brushing his hair back from where the wind was blowing it down into his face. She noted with some dismay that he felt hot and feverish.

"You have to promise me something, right now," she said.

He looked confused. "What?"

"Let me take it from here."

"But...what—?"

"Dr. D., I..." she glanced away as she took a steadying breath and then looked up, her resolve firmer than ever. "The world has had you long enough. _I_ need you now. Our baby needs you."

He cast his eyes to her ample baby-bump and then looked back up.

"You did it. You saved the world. Please... Let yourself be saved."

She could see the hint of fight in his eyes. But he was too weak to bring it forward. With a sigh, he nodded his assent. And no sooner than he had were her lips were on his, kissing him slow and deep, reminding him of just what he was living for.

When she pulled away he looked a bit more lively. She grinned at him and slid back into the driver's seat and put the hover-car in gear, flying it higher and away from the chill of ocean breeze as they journeyed back to the lair.

"Shego...to be clear," he began. She glanced at him. "I still want to take over the world someday. Just...not like this."

She chuckled and grinned at him. "I'll bet you've already got a plan."

Drakken smirked.

* * *

** Day 122 **

Each time Drakken woke up, Shego was there to first make him eat and drink, and then force him back to bed. It was morbidly reminiscent of when he had been battling the virus and she hadn't left his side for fear she would return and find him dead. He had developed a high fever that was keeping her from her own rest as she stayed with him, watching the rising death-count as reported on TV and cooling him with ice packs. His sleep was fitful, often filled with nightmares he described to her when he woke in which she, the baby, and the henchmen all died. But she continually reassured him that everyone was well and soothed him back to sleep. And it was true as all of the infected henchmen had begun to recover. Blessedly, Drakken's recovery was progressing swiftly too, and she felt more at ease about leaving him alone for brief periods to go to the lab to fulfill her end of their deal.

After Phil's memorial she had made contact with the United Nations and told them about the vaccine. A couple of days of silence had followed as the international body discussed what to do, but eventually they called back and said they were sending representatives to the lair to collect Drakken's research. Of course, they would have to do their own testing and proving before any vaccine could be mass-produced for the public.

On the designated day, Shego regretfully woke Drakken up about three hours before the scheduled arrival of the UN officers. She would need him to double-check that the henchmen had prepared the samples properly for delivery, to prepare those things that the UN had requested that she and the henchmen didn't understand, and then to explain to the highly suspicious group of representatives everything about the vaccine that she and the henchmen simply couldn't. And of course, have plenty of time to get himself ready.

He looked more human after almost two full days of sleep, though the bags beneath his eyes were still exceedingly heavy. Only time would be able to reverse the effects of weight loss due to his unintentional self-abuse, and as Shego watched him dress to meet the officers it was obvious that his sleep had done little to diminish his anxiety.

However, it was clear that his decision to give the vaccine away was resolute as he organized and reviewed his notes on the computer and snapped at the henchmen to hurry in their preparations of the samples. It was the first time he had treated them such since the pursuit to create the vaccine began, and Shego took it be proof of his nervousness over the situation.

Minutes before the arrival, he stood in the kitchen fixing and re-fixing his hair in the reflection of the microwave as Shego attempted to make him eat a breakfast of yogurt and strawberries with her. He had begun asking if he looked all right and was nervously flipping and re-flipping through his paper-stacks of research to be sure it was all there.

"Dr. D.!" Shego finally barked as he repeated the same nervous question for the fifth time.

He startled and turned to face her, blinking in surprise.

She thrust the bowl of yogurt forward and he reflexively took it.

"Eat! You don't want to faint in front of all those big-shots."

He blinked again, but seeing reason his shoulders slowly relaxed and he spooned some of the yogurt and sliced fruit into his mouth.

"You're gonna be fine. You've got all the proof you need," she said, leaning back against the kitchen island as she finished her own breakfast.

Drakken's brow furrowed as he was clearly still skeptical.

"If I were you I'd be worrying more about them trying to arrest us."

He swallowed his small bite and waved his spoon carelessly as he rolled his eyes. "Yes, the henchmen are already armed and outside."

"Good."

Shego moved to the sink to wash her empty dish—a habit she had built while Drakken was incapacitated—as he continued to eat. The glaze of his eyes that she had become used to over so many weeks during his focus on the crisis slowly began to lift as he watched her, his gaze drifting down to rest on her baby-bump.

She pursed her lips and grinned as she continued washing the dish. With Drakken on the mend and the vaccine business hopefully soon to be completed, she was hoping their focus could shift to the baby. Judging by the research she had done, she was far enough along that they could go back to the doctor and find out if they would be having a girl or a boy. She wondered if Drakken would want to know, or be surprised... But more importantly, they could start discussing how they would raise the baby, and if in fact they would be continuing their world-domination pursuits, or if their focus would shift to something else.

As she finished washing her dish and set in in the drying rack, she glanced back to find Drakken still staring at her bump, clearly deep in thought. So absorbed was he, that he had finished off all of the yogurt and strawberries and was now sightlessly scraping the last remnants out of the bowl.

"Hand it over," she said and extended her arm for the dish, startling him.

He blinked down into the empty bowl and then passed it off. She immediately set to washing it. If there was one thing that made domesticity more tolerable, it was being sure that cleaning got done right away. Scraping dry, caked food off of dishes was something she'd only needed to experience once to decide it was never going to happen again.

Drakken moved up next to her, his gaze shifting between her actions and her belly.

"Shego, um. Can I feel the baby move?"

She grinned. "Remember you don't have to ask? It's not moving right now, though."

"Oh."

"But wait about fifteen minutes. It usually moves after I eat."

His brow furrowed slightly, and she knew he understood he would miss the opportunity. They would be talking to the UN officers then, assuming they arrived on time.

"It will move again when I go to bed tonight. You can try to feel it then."

"It will?" he said.

The sound of footsteps interrupted their conversation as Ravinder rounded the corner from where he'd been waiting at the door to the balcony.

"They're coming," he said.

Drakken stiffened, and Shego turned off the water and dried her hands. After a moment, Drakken cleared his throat.

"Go...take your position," he instructed.

The henchman turned wordlessly, and Drakken picked up his massive stack of research again and tapped the papers on the counter to straighten them. Shego stepped to his side and gently held his arm.

"Everything will be fine," she reassured him.

He didn't look convinced, but his tension diminished slightly. Shego followed him across the living area to the balcony door where Ravinder was waiting again with Jameson. At their feet was a small, wooden crate. Drakken set his notes inside the crate atop the rows of packaged specimens he had prepared and then closed and latched the top. He stood up and tensed again as he smoothed the front of his lab coat.

Ravinder and Jameson carried the crate outside, and Shego took a moment to check her appearance as well. It was difficult for her to make an effort where clothing was concerned, since she hadn't had any opportunity to shop for maternity wear and nearly everything in her wardrobe had ceased to fit. She was wearing her loosest-fitting black stretch pants which she knew would soon reach their limit, and a dark green camisole that was slightly too large and so just covered her.

Her regular shirts were out of the question, and in anticipation of needing to look presentable she had raided Drakken's wardrobe a couple of days prior. After a short argument he had begrudgingly agreed that she could take anything he hadn't worn in over a year, and thus she found herself wearing one of Drakken's button-up shirts over her camisole to meet the UN officers. The shirt was much too large of course, so she had the black sleeves rolled up to just below her elbows and the top few buttons undone in an attempt to add style. The largeness of the shirt didn't conceal her baby-bump, but it made it less obvious how large she was at seventeen weeks.

She tossed her hair back and then grinned up at Drakken, who was still tense. His jaw was set like iron as he peered out at the ocean, sparkling in the morning sun. Stationed just beyond the balcony were two hover-cars with electro-stave-wielding henchmen that Shego could just see from inside the door, as well as four more men on the balcony itself. She knew that hiding out of sight at back of the lair were two more hover-cars with guards, and all of the lair's defense systems had been activated.

They may be giving away a world-saving vaccine, but they weren't stupid. The authorities might take advantage of the opportunity and try to arrest them. But there was no way she or Drakken would allow that to happen.

Drakken sighed and stepped out onto the balcony and Shego followed close at his side. About five miles distant was a large ship, and a helicopter was fast approaching the lair from the sea vessel. Drakken narrowed his eyes as the craft grew closer.

"They can't land here," he said firmly.

Shego wanted to roll her eyes. Of course they couldn't, there wasn't anywhere large enough for a helicopter. But the ship was obviously an aircraft carrier.

It became clear after a minute that the helicopter had no intentions of landing, and was in fact doing reconnaissance. They both watched with growing ire as it rose high in the sky and hovered above the lair, obviously studying those defensive measures that it could see before it quickly returned back to the ship.

Drakken was fidgeting more after the craft's retreat, watching nervously. But Shego found herself growing angry. The logical side of her instantly rationalized their visitors' suspicion—they were super-villains after all—but given everything she and especially Drakken had been through in the past four months made her quick to dismiss reason.

She almost wanted to dare them to try a double-cross. She would make them regret it if they did.

Her train of thought was disrupted as the helicopter landed on the ship, and then another craft lifted off. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the unfamiliar vessel that looked suspiciously like one of Drakken's hover-cars, except about three times larger. It was rapidly and soundlessly approaching.

"Shego... Nnh, what is that?"

"I don't know," she admitted with a grimace. 'Top secret' and 'experimental' were the first things that flashed through her mind. And if they were, she wondered if they should feel pride that the UN considered them enough of a risk to use such a unique craft

All of that ran through her head in a second as the more pressing thought quickly took over—was it a craft meant to attack them?

Next to her, Drakken took a nervous step back toward the door, clearly having had similar thoughts. He glanced back at the henchmen and nodded at them to charge their electro-staves, and they immediately complied. If the UN was double-crossing them, they weren't going down without a fight.

They were soon to find out, as the strange and very large craft was coming into focus. Shego's eyes narrowed as it quickly became clear...the ship was in fact, a much larger version of Drakken's unique vehicles.

Next to her, Drakken's eyes went wide. "Shego!" he cried as he stared at the offending vehicle. After a few seconds of incoherent gasping his words came together in an angry splutter. "They...they _stole_ my design!"

"Yeah..." she said as she began taking note of the numerous armed people standing within the approaching craft, along with four people wearing suits.

"But how!" Drakken cried in exasperation as the craft slowed its approach.

Shego's brow rose as understanding came.

"Smarty Mart... The one that was wrecked," she said. "We never went back for it."

Drakken froze and slowly looked at her, his eyes darkening.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault!" she reminded him.

"Nyeh...ragh!" he cried once more, throwing his hands up in a huff.

The foreign hover-car arrived and stayed about twenty yards distant from the balcony and about five feet above their heads. 'Balcony' was really an incorrect term, because it was the lair's upper-level launch site for the hover-cars—a convenient use of a natural cliff. There were always at least two cars up there while the rest were in the garage below. Drakken had been calling it a balcony when he hired Shego, and despite her questioning, the name had never been changed.

"That's _my_ design! You stole it!" were Drakken's shouted words of greeting when the visitors put their vehicle on idle. "I have a patent!"

Shego rolled her eyes. She looped her arm through his and gripped the crook of his elbow with her left hand, shaking her head when he looked down at her. A moment later, they found themselves surprised again as a familiar mane of red hair followed by blond emerged from behind the taller occupants of the hover-car.

"Kim Possible!?" Drakken cried in dismay.

Shego scowled, suspecting for sure they had been double-crossed. But the two teenagers' sudden looks of shock were enough to give her pause. Possible and her side-kick, whatever his name was, were both staring at she and Drakken with their eyes wide and mouths agape.

Shego glanced peripherally at Drakken and took only a second to understand the reason for their expressions. The mad scientist looked starkly different from the last time he and the teen nuisances had crossed paths. A paler complexion, a figure so thin that his clothes simply hung on him, and gray streaks in his already-thin hair were some of the consequences of the disease, the grief, and the exhaustion. And Shego knew that while she looked remarkably healthier than him, her condition and attire certainly didn't give off the air of 'mercenary.'

The teens appeared unchanged, physically. But as the shock faded from Possible's eyes Shego saw that while she looked as sharp as ever, there was a sadness not too far beneath the surface. And her side-kick, contrary to his usual fright and lack of focus, seemed to be more alert and was standing at Possible's side with an air of protectiveness.

"What is _she_ doing here?" Drakken shouted, clearly expecting betrayal with the appearance of his teen nemesis.

One of the men in suits cleared his throat. "We asked Miss Possible to join us as an advisor because of her vast experience in dealing with you."

"Dr. Drakken," one of the women began, drawing Shego's attention away from the teens. Behind Possible and her side-kick were about twelve men and women, clearly military and dressed for combat. Next to the teens were two men and two women in suits. "Your...side-kick has made credible claims that you have created a working vaccine for the disease."

"Whoa, whoa," Possible's side-kick— _Stoppable_ , Shego remembered—interrupted the woman. "Is Shego pregnant? I didn't even know she was married."

Shego rolled her eyes and gripped Drakken's arm tighter. One corner of her mouth quirked up slightly as the sunlight glinted off her diamond ring at that very moment.

The woman in the suit cleared her throat. "I am Ms. Moon, director of the World Health Organization."

Shego looked at the four authorities of whom she had done a brief web search ahead of their arrival. The directors of the WHO were, in her opinion, no different than any other bureaucrats. And there was nothing whatsoever intimidating about them. The infantry standing behind them and armed to the teeth were the ones Shego was giving the most attention.

"And despite your notorious criminal record—"

Drakken puffed up slightly.

"—due to the nature of this crisis, we are willing to examine your research."

"What evidence do you have that the vaccine you supposedly created works?" one of the suit-clad men— _Peters_ , Shego recalled—chimed in.

Drakken hesitated and swallowed nervously, but Shego gripped his arm reassuringly.

"I... We conducted two weeks of animal tests," he began. "When the vaccine was successful in monkeys, and then in mice, we did a week of human trials. These six men," Drakken gestured to the electro-stave-wielding henchmen split between two hover-cars and the balcony, "were the ones who volunteered. You can see for yourselves they are in perfect health."

The group from the WHO were unmoved.

"You can't create a vaccine in three weeks," countered the other man whose name Shego couldn't remember.

Drakken scowled. "I was working on it for almost three months before we started any live testing."

"You can't create a vaccine in three months," the last suit—a Mrs. Johns, if Shego remembered right—added.

"Well, I did!" Drakken argued. "It's all right here! Everything you asked for," he continued, gesturing behind him to where Ravinder and Jameson were flanking the wooden crate. They knelt to open it, and Drakken and Shego stepped back to present the evidence.

Drakken took out the stack of loose-leaf papers that could fill three textbooks and thrust them out in front of him. "Every single note I took during the process. Even the failures are in here," he said. He passed the papers to Shego and then bent to take out a handful of Petri dishes and test tubes. "And here are all the samples from the men and from the animals showing the successful production of antibodies in all tissues. And this..." He replaced the specimens in the crate and then with far more care took out two syringes packed tightly in Styrofoam, "is the vaccine."

Frowning in defiance of their distrust, he nodded back to the henchmen who carefully repacked the crate under Shego's watch. Drakken glared up at the officials floating in the oversized hover-car as they exchanged their own distrustful glances.

"We will need to take these six men who were supposedly vaccinated and conduct our own tests," Peters said.

"No! Absolutely not!" Drakken said.

Shego had warned him that they would try that. But of course, the poor men who had already put their lives on the line for the sake of the world would only find themselves in prison if they were to leave the safety of the lair. It was not an option.

The WHO officers looked unimpressed with Drakken's resistance. Shego took a step away from him and powerfully flared her hands to let them know just how serious they were.

"...Then how can we know you aren't giving us false specimens? Perhaps even your own blood?" Peters continued.

Shego heard Drakken's chest rumble with a slight growl before he answered. "My blood is in there too. I had the disease."

The directors looked ever-so-slightly less skeptical, if Shego was reading them right. She extinguished the glow and stepped back to Drakken's side and nodded at him. They had discussed other methods of persuasion as well.

"And..." Drakken continued, "we will allow one person to come draw fresh blood samples if that's what it takes."

This caused several brows to rise. Even some of the special forces lost their hard exterior and were beginning to show curiosity. Shego wondered if any of them had lost loved ones to the disease.

"But what's the catch?" Kim Possible said, frowning as she looked at the two villains.

Shego spoke for the first time. "There isn't one."

Possible shook her head. "Even if you _did_ make a vaccine, there's no way you would give it away for free."

"There's no catch," Drakken repeated.

"No, Kim's got a point," Stoppable chimed in. "Why would villains do something that could amount to saving the world?"

Shego felt Drakken tense before she saw it, and at the pained look on his face a familiar, ill turning began in her stomach. She took a deep breath to speak so Drakken wouldn't have to.

"Two days ago," she said, "we buried one of our henchmen. Some of the others are still sick. They're recovering inside."

The group hovering off the balcony exchanged looks again. The WHO directors were giving what Shego thought was an absurd amount of deference to Kim Possible. She grit her teeth as her frustration grew. Even when she and Drakken were actually doing something good, the teen cheerleader was going to foil them.

Drakken was growing more and more tense next to her. She watched as he hung his head and closed his eyes tightly, fighting a silent, internal battle.

"Kim Possible," he said suddenly, looking up. "I'm sorry about Jame— ...Your father."

The sadness in Possible's eyes that had been hovering beneath the surface was suddenly on display for anyone watching to see. But in a few moments it was buried again and her resolve had returned. Stoppable looked almost angry as he stepped closer to his friend, ready to shut down any further mention of her loss.

"The disease took... I lost..." Drakken continued. He paused and looked down, taking a shaky breath. The rolling in Shego's stomach continued. "I lost my mother."

Shego should have realized that it would be a show of humanity that would make the difference. The visiting group discussed briefly among themselves whether or not they should trust the villains, but a few minutes after Drakken's reluctant reveal and with Kim Possible's endorsement, they decided in their favor. Drakken agreed to allow the WHO director onto the balcony to take fresh blood samples from the six henchmen who had tested the vaccine while the crate of research was brought to the hover-car.

Shego stayed far from everyone during the process, nearer to the lair's external wall where she could keep all the players in sight. The moment of truce would be a likely opportunity for a betrayal, if it were going to happen.

Similarly, Kim Possible and her side-kick had alighted from the large hover-car and stood near the balcony's edge, taking everything in. She made eye contact once with the blond boy as he kept looking between she and Drakken and murmuring to Possible, no doubt indulging in gossip about the pair of them.

The teen hero, to her credit, didn't appear distracted in the least. There was still sorrow deep in her eyes but it was obvious that it wouldn't affect her ability to act should the need arise.

Shego's eyes narrowed as a long-buried memory suddenly surfaced while she studied the cheerleader. Possible was about the same age she had been...when her life was turned inside-out for the second time. She fought her own internal battle as she stared at the girl.

The new samples had been drawn and packed and the crate had been safely loaded into the copycat hover-car. As the WHO director and the teens began to board, Shego found herself quickly striding forward to meet them.

"Hey, uh...Kim," Shego said. The red-head turned with a curious but slightly suspicious raised brow. Shego realized that was the only time she had actually called the teen by her name instead of some form of mocking insult. "If it's worth anything...I get it. I lost both my parents when I was your age."

Possible didn't respond but to fight against the sadness that tried to rise in her eyes. But after a moment, she gave Shego a slow and deliberate look up and down before meeting her eyes in question. Shego laced her fingers together and rested her hands below her belly, her shirt's fabric pulling taut as a result and showing off the baby-bump.

"The vaccine is the real deal. He almost killed himself over that thing," she continued, glancing at Drakken who was standing several feet back and listening, not nearly as eager to be so near his teen-aged bane.

"He is giving off some serious zombie vibes," Stoppable commented.

The boy had already climbed into the vehicle and was holding a hand out to Possible. After looking back up at Shego and releasing a sigh of acceptance, the red-head took her side-kick's hand and hopped up into the craft next to him.

"But don't expect us to keep doing stuff like this," Shego said as she backed away from the edge of the balcony. "I'm glad this is over with so we can say bye-bye to the medical labyrinth and get this place back to being a functional evil lair."

For the first moment since their arrival, the hint of a smirk ghosted over Possible's face.

"Looks like you're going to busy with things besides evil for a long time," the teen said quietly.

The hover-car rose higher and began its departure. The henchmen retreated from the edge of the balcony, and Drakken stepped up to Shego's side, looking at her curiously.

"Puh-lease. I could take you right now," Shego called to the teen as the vehicle moved away.

Possible let the brief banter end there, but Shego was sure she saw an actual grin on the teen's face as the hover-car flew out into the sun and toward the aircraft carrier. Drakken's hand on her arm pulled her attention away from the vanishing craft, and she looked up into his uncertain eyes.

"Your parents died...when you were a teenager?" he asked.

Shego looked down and let a small sigh escape through her nose as she nodded, remembering their hasty conversation a couple of mornings earlier. If she were to turn over the Global Justice records, he would learn far more about her than what little was understood about her powers.

The copycat hover-car landed on the aircraft carrier, and Drakken nodded to the henchmen on guard that they could all stand down. As far as the vaccine was concerned...their part now was just to wait. It was possible the UN would contact them with questions, but Shego doubted it. The four officers had been extremely suspicious and reluctant to accept that a villain was trying to help cure a pandemic.

A familiar turning in her belly that had nothing to do with her stomach brought her focus back to Drakken.

"The baby is moving," she said.

His brow rose and he eagerly set both hands over her bump. She slid them to a better location, and he held stock-still as he waited for the chance to feel the life they had made moving within her. A moment later he was rewarded, and light returned to his dark eyes as felt the tiny movements.

The joy in his face overwhelmed any concern she might have had about the henchmen or even Possible watching them, and setting her hands atop his shoulders she leaned up and kissed him.

* * *

** Day 123 **

Drakken slept in late. Shego had been surprised to find him still asleep, since more often than not he was lying awake by the time she woke or he was already up and gone. She had taken advantage of the time to go about a slower, more normal morning routine like she remembered having before the pandemic, even sitting on the sofa to have her breakfast and coffee and watch the news. But when he still wasn't up by almost lunchtime she began to worry.

She was further surprised when going back to check on him that he was still asleep, exactly where she'd left him. His brow was slightly furrowed as per usual, but he seemed to be sleeping peacefully if the slow rise and fall of his chest meant anything. She felt his forehead and noted he still had a slight fever, but it wasn't anything to be concerned about. She tiptoed back out of the room and headed toward her own.

After the departure of the UN officers the previous day, the unspoken consensus not only between them but also the henchmen was that...it was time for a break. Shego hadn't expected Drakken to actually honor it himself. And she was sorry that she was about to pull him away from it.

In her room, she went straight for the closet and the locked box buried back beneath some shoes she never wore. If she didn't give the stolen Global Justice records to Drakken soon...she never would.

No one knew about her past. If asked, a select few in Go City may claim to have memories of the young super-heroine who had once been part of Team Go and shocked everyone by turning villain. But almost no one knew about the person who had existed before 'Shego.'

As far as she was concerned, no one ever would. Except... Now for the first time, there was a chance that something might be wrong with her powers. And there was no way she would ever ask Global Justice for help.

Which left only Drakken.

Questionably mad, questionably evil...questionable scientist. If he hadn't created a proven vaccine, she probably would have felt completely helpless to find someone qualified and trustworthy.

But in addition to the scientific secrets about her, there were also the personal ones. How she had gotten her powers, what had happened immediately after, how Global Justice fit into it all—only her brothers knew the truth, and she considered them brainwashed pawns of the machine. She had been alone with the secrets for so long that she assumed it would always be that way.

Now she had the choice of trusting someone. Someone who six months ago she would have laughed at the idea of trusting with _any_ secret. Until she had made the choice to change things.

She really wasn't sure when she had fallen in love with him. All she knew was...she remembered waking up thinking about him and wanting to hurry to the lab to start teasing him and seeing him react. And every reaction, no matter how absurd, had started causing butterflies in her chest.

She wasn't the risk taker, and yet...on that night when everything changed she had taken the biggest risk of her life.

Until now.

Hefting the strongbox out of her closet with both hands, she started back toward Drakken's room. Her heart...she knew was mendable. If it had turned out that he didn't love her, she could have moved on. But turning over the secret of her powers, her brothers' powers, and the truth about the person before 'Shego' wasn't something she could ever take back.

Drakken was still asleep when she arrived back in the room. She set the strongbox on the bed and then after a moment's consideration, she crawled toward the center of the bed and lay down atop the blankets about two feet distant from the blue-skinned villain.

He needed sleep more than anything else, and she wasn't about to wake him when finally, he was truly at rest. She may also be able to calm her anxious nerves in the time before he woke.

* * *

Shego was drifting in the twilight between sleep and wakefulness when movement next to her caused her to turn. Drakken was slowly blinking and peering around, his eyes focusing on her face a second later. He looked alert and well-rested.

She smiled at him. He smiled back, a rarely-seen peace in his eyes.

As long as he was all right, she could bear anything.

"Shego... When will we know if the baby is a boy or a girl?"

The flutter that arose in her heart at his words caused every other thought to vanish from her mind.

"We could make an appointment to find out... If they'll let us," she added with a furrowed brow.

The pandemic had thrown the world into a chaos worthy of the most legendary villain. The accusations and shifting of blame were at a maximum, with apparent truths changing daily. The result was a social confusion that had some people calling the police over folks walking their dogs, and others teaching neighbors and strangers how to make protective face masks.

And of course, the hospitals were still overloaded. The irony to the social issues was that the spread of the disease actually seemed to be slowing. And if the UN approved the use of Drakken's vaccine, there was potential of the pandemic being the briefest in known history.

"Hmm..." Drakken mused over her point, shifting up to lean on his elbow. His eyes caught sight of her strongbox. "What's that?"

The happy fluttering vanished from Shego's chest like a vapor.

"Those..." she took a deep breath, "are the records I stole from Global Justice when I left Team Go."

Drakken looked between her and the box, and after a moment she sat up and dragged it closer.

"Shego... You really...don't have to—"

She stopped his words with a flare of her hands, studying them in concern.

"What if something's wrong with me...and it can hurt the baby?"

Drakken swallowed slowly, and then watched silently as Shego unlocked the box. She lifted the lid and then pulled out the first of dozens of manila folders, the box packed to capacity.

"This is... Well, here, you'll figure it out faster. It's not as organized as your vaccine research."

She pushed the box in front of him and held out the folder, but he hesitated in taking it, his expression quickly falling into worry.

"Shego... Are you sure? You've always said that...the past is going to stay in the past."

Shego had scooted back to the headboard and curled up against the ever-present pile of pillows. She had tried to stay neutral about it for his sake, but she knew her own expression was clouded.

"Yeah, well. You reading it isn't going to make it come back. I hope..." she said, the last added under her breath.

Drakken looked between her and the folder in his hands. "Do you...want to go through it with me?"

After a few moments she shrugged and patted the spot next to her. He moved back and sat leaning up against the headboard.

"Are there...any parts in particular you don't want me to read?" he asked.

Shego finally let a scowl escape. "I don't want you to read any of it."

When she glanced up from where her eyes had been fixed on the folder, his countenance had only grown more worried.

"I...want to respect your privacy, Shego."

She sighed. As much as it still bothered her, his words did the trick. He may as well have been whispering sweet nothings in her ear and showering her in praise. Because he meant it, and that alone was enough to let her know...she really could trust him.

"Doesn't matter. You may as well know everything," she said, shifting up slightly to be nearer to him.

He still looked skeptical. But after another few moments of studying her to be sure it was truly all right, he glanced at the label on the manila folder and opened it to the first page.

* * *

Shego's arms were folded on the armrest of the sofa, her head lying atop them as she stared ahead at the TV with the volume turned low. She was sick of watching the news, but since Drakken's questions were becoming bolder and more frequent it was a welcome distraction from her memories.

For the moment, the digging into her past had stopped as he had left the spread of folders and papers on the coffee table to go make them dinner. He had been gone for maybe twenty minutes when Shego realized that even the questions were better than being left alone with her thoughts.

She pushed herself off the sofa and hurried into the kitchen where Drakken was standing over the stove stirring what looked like a meat sauce. On the next burner was a pot boiling with noodles.

Drakken glanced back upon hearing her come in. "It will be ready in about five minutes. The garlic bread is almost done," he said, stepping back to peer down through the oven door.

She leaned forward on the kitchen island and sighed, watching him. The pink apron he wore actually looked less out of place since he had lost weight, but the latter fact was only a reminder of how damaging the disease was. She wondered not for the first time if the problem with her glow had something to do with the virus.

"What's in the sauce?" she asked, searching for further distraction.

"Ground beef, onions, salt, garlic... Tomatoes," he finished, glancing back at her with his brow raised in question.

"Nothing spicy?"

"No?"

"Good." He was still looking at her curiously, so she clarified. "Doesn't sit well anymore," she said, rubbing her belly lightly.

"Oh..." he mused, turning off both burners and then grabbing the boiling pot of noodles. Shego frowned as he seemed to be struggling slightly.

"You can't even lift a pot of water?" she said.

Drakken frowned. "Of course I can," he said as he turned the pot over into a colander. The action was accomplished with far less than his usual grace in the kitchen, and took far too much time. After the noodles had drained he dumped them into the saucepan and continued stirring, now with a small, indignant frown.

Shego smirked and stepped around the island.

"You need to come down to the gym with me now that things aren't so crazy," she said.

"Hn. Thought you were supposed to take it easy?"

"Me taking it easy will be just the right starting place for you," she said, her smirk growing.

He faced her with an annoyed frown, and then was startled as she placed her open palm high on his chest and pushed him. He stumbled back, a few drops of sauce flying off the spoon in his hand.

"See?" she grinned.

"Hnn..." He set a hand on her shoulder and tried to push her back, but she didn't budge. A light cackle escaped her lips as he scowled and turned back to the spaghetti. "Just because you've had combat training since you were a child doesn't mean I'm some sort of lightweight."

Shego's grin fell. He had read about the intensive work she and brothers had been put through almost from the very beginning.

"Me knowing how to fight doesn't have anything to do with you being a wimp," she countered, moving past him to go sit at the kitchen table and wait for food. She missed his confused glance as the lightness had left her voice to be replaced with scorn.

Shego sighed and leaned forward with her elbows on the table. He would probably be bringing up things from her past to taunt her, now that he was learning everything. And even if he only meant it in jest...not one of her memories could be labeled as pleasant.

After a minute, Drakken set the steaming pan in the middle of the table along with a tray of fragrant garlic bread and a fancy cheese-grating device with a block of Parmesan. Shego looked up when an empty plate and a glass of water were set in front of her. She sighed and reached for the spaghetti only to have Drakken grab the tongs before her. She was about to protest, but he put the dollop of pasta on her plate instead of his. When she looked up and met his eyes, they were concerned and a touch hurt.

She looked down.

She could _trust_ him. That wasn't the problem. It was just her, and wanting to keep the past in the past.

She didn't say a word, but only picked up her fork to start eating as he served himself. She watched as frustration joined the other two emotions in his eyes to form a deep, swirling confusion. She rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to apologize for the earlier casual strike, but he beat her to it.

"When do you usually go down to the gym? I, uh...don't think I've ever been there while you were working out."

Shego looked down again. Why was he, Dr. Drakken, suddenly the bigger person?

"Well I haven't in awhile..." she mumbled.

No matter how much her mind screamed at her to just get over herself, she couldn't seem to form any words that would get them past the tension she'd created. So their dinner was spent in a series of awkward conversation-starters that didn't go anywhere, with Drakken looking more and more stressed and probably wondering if he'd done something wrong.

They both cleaned their plates awfully quickly, Shego only going slow enough to make sure Drakken ate absolutely everything on his. But after she sat back and sighed, asking about dessert, Drakken had apparently had enough of her.

"Shego," he said, standing with a frown. "Just tell me everything you don't want me to read."

"I can't," she said, shaking her head.

"Just separate everything out for me," he continued.

"I _can't_ ," she growled, "because everything's so mixed up and I don't know where all the important stuff is. And to find it, _I'd_ have to read it all, and..."

She stared without focus to where he stood across the table, hands on his hips. He didn't respond, so after a moment she warily looked up at his face. He was back to looking concerned.

"Rgh, don't look at me like that!" she said, crossing her arms and drawing her knees up to her chest—a difficult task in the small dining chair.

She tensed as he suddenly stepped past her and returned to the kitchen. She whirled around to see him open the fridge and freezer at the same time.

"We can have strawberry smoothies for dessert," he said, avoiding the subject of her past again. Just like she wanted.

She slowly stood and watched as he laid out the ingredients on the counter and then bent over to pull his expensive blender out from a lower cabinet. She noticed him struggle slightly with the heavy device just as he had earlier with the full pot of water.

"You done over here?" she asked quietly.

"Hm? Yes," he nodded.

She gathered up the dinner plates and took them to the sink to wash, feeling a bit ill. It wasn't just a question of why...but _how_ was he the bigger person between them?

As she set the dishes in the sink she felt a slight cramp in her side and leaned back against the counter. It didn't escape Drakken's notice.

"What's wrong? Are you all right?" he asked, almost dropping the blender on the counter.

"Fine," she waved him off. "Just another cramp."

He was soon next to her anyway and placing an arm gently around her waist, ready to offer support should she need it. She sighed long and deep. It wasn't that he was the bigger person...

_'This is love... He loves me...'_

She leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Strawberry smoothies sound good," she said quietly.

He pulled her closer and she moved to stand in front of him with her back to him, sagging into him as he leaned against the counter. His arms snaked around her and his hands gently rubbed her belly.

"I can stop reading..." he suggested quietly.

She shook her head and straightened up, leaning her cheek against his. "No. I want to know what's wrong..." She sighed through her nose. "...Do you think you can find out?"

He held her a little tighter. "I will."

She closed her eyes and focused only on the the feel of being in his arms and his hands caressing her abdomen. She had the briefest thought—similar to the one she had had on repeat for months—that this wasn't her life, and she wanted _her_ life back. But life had changed. And for all the horrors they had encountered...they had come out of it. There were still there, and still alive.

"Hmm..." she sighed and set her arms over his. She tilted her head up slightly to kiss his jaw, and relaxed back into his warmth.

She had survived everything so far. She could survive this too.

* * *

Stacks of papers and folders covered the coffee table and the floor between the table and the TV. They were lain about haphazardly, but apparently they made sense to Drakken. Shego lay curled in the corner of the couch, watching as he would read through several papers and then move them to one of the piles he had created. Occasionally he would write a note on a three-by-five card and tape it to the front of a folder as he reorganized everything in her strongbox.

After enjoying the smoothies made from the frozen strawberries, it was she this time who had insisted that Drakken get back to work despite it growing late in the evening. The sooner he finished, the sooner it could all be locked away again.

Or burned, he had suggested when she expressed the former thought. But the reason she had stolen the information in the first place was in case of a situation like they currently faced. And there was no telling if they would need to bring it all out again someday.

She had begun yawning about thirty minutes after the last folder left the strongbox. She had hoped it could be done in one day and then buried back in her closet and memory, hopefully forever. But there was so much material...it seemed next to impossible that he could finish studying it that night.

After her head nodded forward in sudden sleep for the third time she decided it was time to call it a night. She sat up and stretched, and then blinked in surprise as Drakken picked up four folders and came to sit next to her.

"I...have everything I need, now," he said. "I just need to do some tests on you."

* * *

** Day 125 **

Seven henchmen were still sick, and all recovering. It was a lucky thing that most people interested in hench-work were typically young and healthy, and that most villains only sought to hire henchmen who were young and healthy.

Shego was sitting in her usual place at the computer, but she wasn't working. She was filing her nails and watching the combination of clean-up that was occurring in the back, and Drakken who alternated between the workbench and the computer as he analyzed her blood tests. He had spent the previous day in deep study of the research that Global Justice had done on her for more than a decade, and was now comparing his findings to the results of her most recent tests.

The healthy henchmen were breaking down the terrariums, the remaining mice having been released outside the lair and the monkeys flown to Guatemala and set free there. The lab was slowly but surely being returned to normal. The henchmen still wore gloves and masks per Drakken's instructions, but once the vaccine had been shown to work, Drakken had ordered the rest of the henchmen to be injected whether they wanted to be or not. He was determined not to be responsible for any more deaths.

The question still remained what they would all _do_ after the lab was back to normal. The world wasn't remotely normal, and Shego had secretly started to wonder if they shouldn't just put villainy on hold all-together. Taking over the world would be in bad taste both during the crisis, and since Drakken would be famous for saving it once the vaccine was in production. But would either of them be satisfied with the small stuff? Would the henchmen?

And if they did choose to put villainy on hold, what would they do instead? To raise a baby, they needed income.

Drakken hovered over her as he printed something, and she leaned away to give him better access to the keyboard. His task done, he turned to walk away and then stopped suddenly. She watched as he turned back with a smile and then with no warning leaned down and kissed her. Her nail file clattered to the floor.

And then just as suddenly she was alone, breathless and blinking after him in surprise as he grinned before vanishing around the corner of the desk to get his printout.

She was blushing. She looked over at the henchmen, who either hadn't noticed or who had figured out it was none of their business to be watching.

Drakken came back with his printout and after grabbing a folder from the workbench motioned for her to follow him. They left the lab and she hurried to catch up to him.

"What?"

He was glancing at his printout and still grinning.

"Drakken." She grabbed his arm and he paused, his smile fading.

"You want to find out here, or go sit down?"

Her brow rose. "You mean...you already know what's wrong?"

He continued walking and she jumped to catch up again, suddenly feeling uncertain. Had his kiss and his smile been a sign that all was well? Or had they been meant to help calm her down before a bomb was dropped?

Drakken led her into the living room and sat in the corner of the sofa, setting his arm across the back and looking at her in invitation. She sat down and after a moment pressed into his side, but her eyes were narrowing.

"Get on with it," she said.

He took a breath and then smirked slightly. "It happened before."

Her eyes narrowed further. "What? No, I told you it never happened before. I've always been in control of my glow."

"You don't remember it happening, just like now." He set his printout in his lap and then flipped the folder open. She recoiled slightly at the sight of the Global Justice watermark on the first page. "It's all here."

Her eyes lost focus as soon as she attempted to read the first lines on the page.

"Just tell me," she said, crossing her arms and staring at the piles of folders still littering the living room. "What's wrong?"

He brought his arm down and reached around her, flipping through the folder until he found a specific page and pulled it out. He placed it beneath the folder with his printout and then set the folder on his lap, opening it and flipping to a page he had marked with a sticky note.

"Nothing's wrong." He pointed down to the page out of the folder. She swallowed anxiously and leaned forward to read as he pointed down to a line. "'Subject was sleeping in the jet after a mission,'" Drakken read, "'when her glow spontaneously activated. Other subjects woke her and she had no explanation.' You were twelve years old."

Shego peered at the small paragraph, but Drakken suddenly flipped to another marked page. "'Subject 2 was arguing with Subject 1 when her glow activated outside of her control. She was unaware of the active glow for several seconds until Subject 1 informed her.'" Shego just glimpsed the year on the page that showed she had been thirteen before Drakken flipped the page again. "'Glow activated while subject was in gym class at school.'"

Shego stopped listening to Drakken as she saw that her age for that one had been thirteen as well, and also that Drakken had at least a dozen more sticky notes. She set her hand down on the page he was reading from to stop him.

"I get the idea. It's happened a lot. Glow ignites and I'm not aware. Now get to the point."

Drakken pulled the printout and the other page he had set aside from beneath the folder and placed them side-by-side atop it.

"Take a look."

"Drakken!" she snarled.

"Okay, fine," he said, unmoved by her ire. He grinned at her. "But just so you know, it happened on and off from the time you were twelve until you were nineteen, with the most frequent occurrences while you were fifteen."

"Get...to...the...point," she growled.

He sighed. "Hormone changes."

Her face fell into a deep scowl as she stared at him. He raised his brow innocently and pointed down to the two papers. She finally looked down to where he pointed. She found the identical words naming various hormones with the similar numbers next to them on each page, indicating their increase.

Shego sat back abruptly, blinking. After a second she leaned her head against his shoulder as she took in the information. She took in a deep breath.

"...Seriously? That's it?"

"The increase and release of certain hormones," he said matter-of-factually. "It happened all throughout the years you were go—...going through puberty. And now—"

"Because I'm pregnant."

He placed both papers inside the folder and then dropped it on the floor as he took both of her hands in his. She watched his content face as he kissed first her knuckles, and then her palms. She wondered, now that he had gotten over whatever had held him back from being affectionate...just how affectionate he was going to become.

"So...what happened back then?" she sighed.

"They just kept an eye on you so you wouldn't set anything on fire... And it eventually stopped."

Shego slumped. "That's really all it is?"

"Mhmm," he murmured, kissing the inside of her wrist.

Shego sniffed in annoyance and pulled one of her hands away to reach across the couch for the TV remote. After she pressed the power and began watching the screen for distraction, he pulled her hand back and continued kissing her palms. She stared at the screen and tried to quell her rising frustration. She was relieved that there wasn't anything wrong with her, but upset that she had become so worried and stressed over nothing.

"So what do you think of all this?" she asked, nodding at the TV. He glanced at the screen briefly before he shrugged and kissed the backs of her hands. As she watched him she felt a grin coming to her face, despite her mood. She looked back at the headlines rolling across the TV screen. "If it really was a conspiracy, whoever's responsible might be competition for us."

This got his attention, and he paused with her hands held up between them as he narrowed his eyes at the television. After about a minute of listening to the broadcast he sighed and looked back at her.

"No one cares..."

Shego's first reaction was surprise, but she considered his words. She thought about how stressed the pandemic had made her, with the disease itself actually having been a small part of the problem. It was the ripping away of her life that had been the real trouble, and she realized that Drakken was probably right. If she as a villain who thrived on power and chaos couldn't gather the energy to either ally with or take revenge against a potential evil power who may have created the disease...then normal people certainly didn't care.

She still just wanted her life back.

"Hmm, you're right," she sighed, smiling slightly as he had resumed kissing her hands and was presently reaching for the lapels of her jacket. "Stop it," she said with a smirk as he pushed her jacket aside and started kissing her bare shoulder.

He looked up. "Do you really want me to?"

She grinned and then peeled out of her jacket. "No."

She lay back on the sofa and was surprised when he only climbed so far over her to kiss her pregnant belly through her shirt. She watched him curiously as he gently rested his hands atop her abdomen and placed a few more kisses there before starting to tug the bottom of her shirt up.

"Mmh, you don't really want to see green stretch marks up close," she said with a grimace.

He rested his cheek against her belly with a happy hum, and all she could see was the top of his head. After a moment she reached down and felt into his hair until her fingers scraped his scalp. He hummed happily again...and then she plucked a gray hair out of his head.

"Ow!" he complained, looking up at her. She rubbed the gray hair between her thumb and forefinger, causing it to spin. He frowned at her teasing and she tossed the hair away with a laugh.

"You... You've got stretch marks!" he countered her unspoken comments about his apparent aging.

"Only because of the baby," she said, reaching for him. She dragged him forward by the shoulders of his lab coat with him moving willingly until he lay fully over her. She brought her face up, her lips parted and tongue ready to attack his, when she caught sight of a familiar image in her periphery and turned to face the TV.

Drakken's lips hit her cheek, but she was focused on the screen where the four directors of the World Health Organization were holding a press conference.

"Look!" she said, tapping his shoulder and pointing.

He turned and his eyes widened at the sight of the quartet who had been so suspicious of them two days prior who were clearly gearing up to make an announcement. Shego began wriggling up to lay on her side and Drakken slipped behind her as she fished for the remote and turned the volume up.

 _"A vaccine candidate has been developed and Phase I testing has been completed,"_ the director, Ms. Moon said.

"It didn't even take them two days!" Drakken said in excitement.

 _"Now we know your first question,"_ Moon addressed the gathered members of the press, _"will be why no one was told before now that this vaccine existed."_

Shego reached back and gripped Drakken's thigh. This would be it. Their—or rather, _his_ —big moment. She felt Drakken release an anxious breath behind her. She knew he really hadn't done it for the glory. But he would definitely enjoy it.

_"This vaccine has turned out to be something of a miracle. It has been developed and tested faster than any vaccine in history. The World Health Organization has determined it to be so effective in fact, that we are judging it worthy of skipping the Phase II trials and moving immediately into Phase III. Because of this miracle, we felt it wasn't right to get the hopes of the entire world up should it have been a failure."_

Drakken slowly sat up. Shego looked at his stunned expression knowing that hers wasn't too far removed.

"Are they actually saying...?" she started to say, but couldn't finish as the WHO director continued.

_"Of course it will still be several months before it will be available to the public, but if all goes well we may see distribution by the end of this year."_

"The end of—!" Drakken said as he scooted out from behind Shego and bounded to his feet.

Various journalists had begun asking questions of the WHO director. Shego stood up and set a hand on Drakken's arm in reassurance. He looked devastated. But the initial evidence of a lie may not be the end of it. There was still opportunity for them to credit Drakken with the development of the vaccine.

Thirty minutes later however, Drakken's devastation had turned to anger as absolutely no mention had been made of the 'miracle vaccine's' creator. He alternated between pacing a small track in front of the sofa and glaring at the television. As the press conference wrapped up and it was clear that they had been betrayed—just not in the way they had anticipated—she turned the TV off and stood in front of him.

"So. Revenge?"

Drakken continued glaring at the now-dark TV as he ground his teeth. He slowly looked down at her.

"Yes... Would you like to see my new plan?" he asked, gesturing back toward the lab.

"Wait, already?"

"For taking over the world."

"Whoa, time out," she said, grabbing his arms as he had already started out of the room. "I like the sound of that, but we've got bigger things to think about."

He frowned and lifted a brow. "Such as?"

She let go of his arms and gestured toward her abdomen with both hands.

The anger started to fade from his face. "Oh."

"Believe me Dr. D., I'm with you on this. But...we need to talk about the future."

He turned back to face her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean...are we really going to try to take over the world while we're changing diapers?"

He grimaced.

"We need to figure out our priorities," she continued. "And you still need to get healthy."

He looked thoughtful, and after several seconds his shoulders collapsed as he gave a small sigh.

"Okay. Priority number two...no, three, will be revenge."

She lifted a curious brow. "What are two and one?"

"Two is the baby," he said with a smile, putting his arms around her waist.

She pursed her lips. The baby owned the top spot, in her opinion... She wondered what he considered more important.

"But...first things first," he continued, bringing his arms back around to take her hands and kiss them gently. "You need to get a white dress."

* * *

** Day 142 **

The world was calling it a miracle. Except those who weren't, who had decided it was either a weapon or too good to be true. Less than three weeks after the WHO had taken Drakken's vaccine and begun testing it, they had approved it for public distribution. They made all of the specifics available for the skeptical to see and sent it worldwide for every member-country to analyze for themselves.

All the specifics of course, except who had truly developed it. For some reason there was absolutely no mention of Drakken; the news networks only ever said "doctors" with regards to who was responsible for the miracle.

Five countries had analyzed and certified the vaccine within a few days, and that very morning as Shego and Drakken sat in the lab watching the broadcast on the computer, the first vaccinations were about to be given at a half-dozen hospitals in one of the hot zones. A news helicopter showed people lined up in their cars for the drive-thru for what looked like half a mile.

Meanwhile, protests by those who doubted the vaccine went on outside the distribution sites. The protests were unique by the fact that people stayed in their vehicles due to the distancing regulations. But the endless honking of horns was annoying more than it was effective.

The unprecedented speed with which the vaccine had been created was understandably suspect. But in general, people seemed more inclined to trust the vaccine than not. This had the strange effect of both pleasing Drakken and enraging him as his 'greatest invention ever' was in essence dominating the world, just for good rather than evil. The only problem was that his name wasn't attached to it.

After the first week they had called the UN. They were ignored as soon as they identified themselves. They tried again without identification and just said they were calling with information about the vaccine, but that too was ignored. It was enough for Drakken to decide they had indeed been slighted and to frantically begin working on a doomsday weapon to destroy the United Nations headquarters.

Shego had spent most of her days since then trying to convince Drakken of the many reasons why it was a bad idea to send a deadly missile into New York City if he wanted positive recognition. She also kept pitching alternatives no matter how chaotic since he was so hell-bent.

Coming up with plans that tickled his eclectic fancy was not her strongest point, so she finally gave up and came up with something that was more her style. And when she'd whispered it in Drakken's ear that morning his distress seemed to lessen, and they had been working on it together every hour since breakfast. They only stopped to watch the news to give the UN one last chance to own up to the truth.

"Nyeh. Nnh. Nraahhrgh!" Drakken shouted after Shego turned off the broadcast.

"Yeah I know. But get back here, this is almost finished processing."

Drakken practically skipped back to her side. "It is?"

"Yeah," she said, leaning back and looking him up and down as she surveyed the giddy hope in his eyes. She wanted to roll her own, but Drakken being back to his typical...atypical-for-most-humans behavior, meant his health was on the rise.

It was a big plus in a world with over 200,000 dead from a pandemic and the global social climate tending toward fear and depression. If Shego hadn't had Drakken and her pregnancy to focus on, she may well have gotten trapped again on the world's train to oblivion herself.

"You ready to make the call?"

"Um. I thought you would do it," Drakken answered, fidgeting nervously.

"Ugh, we're both doing it."

Shego opened the web browser and navigated to particular website. After activating the webcam she clicked on the 'call' button, and the computer showed it was connecting.

"Neh...are you sure about this?" Drakken asked.

"Relax," Shego said.

The call connected and a moment later a low-resolution image of the face of Kim Possible appeared.

_"Shego? Drakken?"_

"Hey Kimmie, got a favor to ask," Shego greeted with a smirk.

 _"Favor? ...What kind of favor?"_ the teen asked suspiciously. Suddenly, the face of her blond-haired side-kick filled the frame. _"Whoa, no way, we don't do favors for villains."_

_"Wait, Ron. Let's at least...hear them out."_

The image on the screen shifted rapidly as both teens talked and the device they used to communicate was waved around.

"Are you going softer on them now because Shego's pregn—"

"Ron!" Possible's face filled the screen again. _"Um...anyway. You were saying?"_

Drakken leaned down so his face was picked up by the webcam next to Shego's.

"Not that we couldn't do this ourselves..." he said with a grimace, "but...you carry a certain clout with people on the right side of the law."

"Do you watch the news?" Shego interrupted.

 _"Yeah..."_ Possible affirmed, listening to the two villains intently.

"Notice how Director What's-her-Name _didn't_ credit Dr. D. with creating the vaccine?"

Half of Kim's face was suddenly pushed out of the screen as her side-kick's face pushed in.

_"Yeah, what was with that? I know you said there wasn't a catch to you giving away the vaccine, but it just seems like common courtesy to acknowledge who made it."_

"Bingo, Side-kick," Shego said, leaning back in the chair.

"They've stolen my greatest achievement ever!" Drakken finally burst, throwing his hands up.

Shego frowned at him. "A- _hem_ ," she mock-cleared her throat.

Drakken blinked, and then quickly knelt down at her side. "I mean, um, _you,_ that is...you _and_ the baby, are my...greatest...achievement?"

 _"Hah! Theory confirmed!"_ Stoppable said.

 _"Uh-huh, a-booyah!"_ a tiny voice echoed, and Shego looked up to see the pink rodent-type creature on the teen's shoulder.

_"Ohhh but it's still sick and wrong!"_

_"Ron!"_

"Hey!" Shego said with a frown and leaned forward again.

 _"Sooo..."_ Possible continued, _"what exactly is it you want our help with?"_

Shego exchanged a look with Drakken.

"Your website gets...how many hits in a day?" Drakken asked.

_"Well... Several...hundred-thousand. Why?"_

"Because _you_ can get the word out about the truth, that it was _my_ genius that created the vaccine that is going to save the world!" said Drakken.

Possible looked uncertain. _"Well..."_

"We have all the security footage from the lab while the vaccine was being tested," Shego explained, "and we edited it down into one summary video, sort of a documentary."

"It's closed-captioned," Drakken added.

Stoppable's face pushed into the screen again. _"Mm, but that's encouraging bad thinking. People shouldn't always believe everything they see."_

_"Ron, for the last time, the moon landing was not faked!"_

Shego cleared her throat to get the teens' attentions. "Look, we just want you to post our video on your website."

"And alert national news," Drakken added with a cunning grin.

"Then the word will spread and... Can't believe I'm saying this," Shego said, but as she turned to look at Drakken her lips curled up into a small grin. "Dr. D.'s genius will get the recognition it deserves."

"Yes! Hahahaha!" Drakken laughed, something between a villainous cackle and gleeful abandon. Shego rolled her eyes and turned back to the skeptical faces of the teens.

 _"I don't know..."_ Possible said.

"Did I forget to mention the back-up plan?" Drakken said, his laughter ending abruptly.

The teens looked perplexed, and Shego adjusted the angle of the webcam as Drakken strode deeper into the lab, fully returned to normal, and stood next to a large missile launcher which he patted affectionately.

"I talked Dr. D. out of destroying the UN headquarters with his new doomsday missile because I was _sure_ you would take our side," Shego explained. "But if you don't...he's pretty set on getting the credit for this, one way or another."

Possible frowned. _"Threatening to blow up the United Nations isn't the way to negotiate, Shego."_

Shego shrugged. "Didn't say it was. But you know Drakken. I'm amazed I've gotten him to hold off for this long."

Possible seemed unmoved, and Shego wondered if she and Drakken wouldn't be jumping headfirst back into the super-villain lifestyle that very day. But then the blond side-kick began whispering something into the cheerleader's ear. The pink rodent leaned forward on his shoulder to listen.

 _"Shego...what exactly are your plans now?"_ Possible asked.

This startled Shego, and she leaned back and crossed her arms as she frowned. "What do you mean?"

_"I mean...it's pretty obvious that you're...well, pregnant. Is Drakken still going to try to take over the world? When the two of you—"_

_"Oh, the grossness!"_ Stoppable interjected.

_"...Have a baby?"_

Shego blinked and then glanced away. She and Drakken still hadn't had that talk, but it was fairly obvious that villainy hadn't left Drakken's mind. Nor had it left hers. But the reality that they simply wouldn't be able to maintain the same lifestyle was pressing more and more on her mind, the larger her baby-bump grew.

Drakken returned to her side from his new doomsday missile and set a hand on her shoulder. Shego shook herself from her thoughts and set her face in determination as she turned back to the teens.

"I can tell you one thing for sure. Getting credit for saving the world would definitely put big points in the 'go straight' column."

Possible and Stoppable exchanged looks again. This time, it was the pink rodent who hopped up to whisper something in the teen heroine's ear. The red-head's brow rose, and after a moment she grinned.

 _"Promise you'll retire from evil, and I'll make sure you get the credit for the vaccine,"_ Possible said.

"What!?" Drakken gasped in dismay. Shego felt a lump form in her throat, but she slowly stood up and set her piercing gaze on Drakken. He looked down at her almost pleadingly as he wrung his hands and glanced around the lab as if something in there would provide an answer or escape.

Shego certainly wasn't about to have the detestable teen telling her how to live her life. But she and Drakken did need to end the current chapter. It was time to put the pandemic behind them even if the world wasn't ready to, and get on with...whatever would come next. And if agreeing to go straight was the way to do it, then so be it.

No one needed to know it would be a lie.

Shego set her hands on Drakken's biceps and gripped them, staring at him intently. She hoped he would get the message to trust her and that all would be well. His darting, frantic eyes slowly came to focus on hers. She watched over the course of several seconds as understanding gradually filled his face and the tension began to leave his body. She offered him a little smirk before turning back to face the teens.

"You can't come after us either," Shego added to Possible's ultimatum. " _Or_ let the law come after us. We'll just disappear. That good enough for you?"

The teens and the pink rodent exchanged looks once more. _"You'll...really go straight? Just like that? Just for a little fame?"_ Possible asked.

Drakken set his arm around Shego's waist as he spoke. "I have...different priorities now."

His smile was genuine, and Shego couldn't suppress the one that came to her face in response. On the screen, Possible blinked a few times and shook her head in disbelief.

_"O-...kay then. We...have a deal, I guess. How do you want to get me this video?"_

"We already put it on Dr. D's website, but it doesn't get many hits," Shego said. Drakken grumbled slightly, and Shego continued. "We figured your computer kid could take it from there."

_"Uh...yeah. I'll get Wade on it."_

Drakken dropped down into the computer chair, still grinning. "You won't regret this, Kim Possible."

 _"Um..."_ The look on her face suggested she already did, but Shego's attention was yanked away as Drakken pulled her down into his lap. She blinked in surprise as he cuddled her close to him.

_"Eww, ohhhh, sick and wrong!"_

The video-call was suddenly ended, and Shego was surprised to find herself blushing as she looked up into Drakken's face.

"Wh-what's the idea?" was what leapt from her lips. For some reason she wasn't keen on the idea of Kim Possible and her side-kick seeing she and Drakken like that.

Drakken's answer came in sing-song. "I'm going to be famous, and Kim Possible won't come after us!"

Shego started to relax.

"And if we bide our time..." he continued with narrowed, calculating eyes, "she'll never see it coming when we take over the world!"

Shego's brow rose, and despite all the practical thoughts swirling in her head about parenthood she couldn't help the smirk that came to her face seeing the confident grin on his.

"Got a plan already?"

"Do _I_ have a plan!" he declared. "It will take some tweaking... I'll need someone else to do the legwork as you'll be busy with the baby, but—"

"Excuse me, _I'll_ be busy? This kid is fifty percent yours. That means fifty percent of the dirty diapers, at _least_."

Drakken tugged at his collar anxiously. "Um. Yes. Well. As I was saying, someone else will have to do the legwork because there are a number of elements I still need to acquire from a variety of sources..."

"Why not just invent whatever you need yourself?"

His lip twisted. "Because..." he drew the word out, "what I need already exists. There's no need to waste time and money when I can just steal it."

Drakken was absently rubbing her abdomen as he talked and was gently spinning the wheeled desk chair back and forth. Shego rested her head on his shoulder and smiled.

"You know... I like the sound of that."

* * *

** Day 156 **

Shego's dress was a white A-line style, sleeveless, and with a fairly modest V-neck. The bodice of the chiffon gown was plain, but just below the level of her hip began the sparse and organic placement of small flower appliques. The appliques were in white, pink, and periwinkle, making the dress unique for a wedding.

Shego felt that white wasn't her color, symbolically or otherwise, and hoped the slight addition of pigment via the flowers would make the combination of white with her green skin and black hair look a little less strange. And to her surprise the maternity gown not only fit well but somehow even flattered her pregnant belly.

Drakken, unsurprisingly, had nothing appropriate for the occasion. Somehow it had escaped both of their notice when she ordered her dress over the Internet, so he wore his usual blue trousers but had traded the lab coat for a matching blue button-up shirt with the cuffs rolled up, and no tie. He thankfully had a pair of loafers and so avoided being married in his boots. Shego went barefoot.

There had been a brief argument about the point of dressing up at all, but Drakken had insisted. It ended after he had reminded her they would be taking pictures; someday their child might want to see memories of their wedding day.

The evening shone with a perfect golden sunset on their tiny strip of beach outside the lair. The henchmen were all gathered including those just recently recovered from the disease as the only guests for the nuptials. Officiating was Claudio, the mafia-connected opera-singing henchman, who also happened to have a license to perform marriages. He and the others had changed out of their HenchCo-standard uniforms for street clothes that Shego barely took notice of.

There were no decorations, no music, and no plans for speeches. Just Drakken and Shego surrounded by the people for whom the designation 'evil family' held a lot more meaning than it had half a year ago. The recitation of the traditional vows was nearly drowned out by the rolling of the surf, but it couldn't take away from the power of the moment.

It wasn't the words, Shego realized, though they carried a very real weight. And the fancy clothing was just for show. What mattered was the two of them, standing there with their hearts open for everyone present to see. It was the vulnerability carried within the promise they made to each other in front of witnesses.

It was a trust that Shego never thought she could find in someone other than herself. And the echoing trust in Drakken's eyes only made her more adamant about keeping the promise she was making, no matter what their lives looked like in the future. But even as fast as things kept changing, together they were finally beginning to find their direction.

Kim Possible's website had done the trick of getting the truth out about the vaccine in less than a week's time. It wasn't long after that Drakken's website began getting hits in the thousands and his email box filled to capacity, the messages widely varied in content. Some people were communicating their hate and distrust, while others were trying to get special orders of the vaccine. A great deal of the messages were from news outlets trying to get interviews with the villain who had apparently saved the world.

The latter was something neither Drakken nor Shego had anticipated, and they had taken the tack of simply ignoring all of it in hopes it would go away. There was definitely a pull for both of them toward the glory that would come with publicity, but not if it meant being paraded in front of the world and saying the same meaningless platitudes in countless carbon-copy TV spots. So to Drakken's surprise, avoiding fame rather than racing toward it became the new goal.

Alternatively, one positive side-effect of the truth coming out was the world's sudden distrust of the UN, and many countries' distrust of their own governments. Evil had genuinely not been part of their plan in delivering the vaccine, but a little chaos and anarchy along with acclaim for having saved the world was an unexpected but immensely satisfying wedding present.

Though the overwhelming response to the truth was distrust and the fame hadn't worked out exactly as Drakken had hoped, the lab security videos were undeniable proof. Kim Possible's endorsement of them was the nail in the WHO's coffin, and it slowly seemed like the world was coming around. It all worked out in the end, since Drakken and Shego had finally decided together that large-scale evil would need to take a break for at least the first several months of the baby's life. And at over twenty-two weeks, the baby was just over halfway down its path to arrival.

But in that moment, on the beach, to Shego...there were scarcely more than the two of them in the entire world.

Shego's eyes were fixed on Drakken's excited face as Claudio finished the familiar officiant's speech. She could tell it was an effort for Drakken to stand still, though his hands softly holding hers proved his devotion to the moment.

Claudio reached into his pocket and pulled out the two rings that the couple had surrendered briefly for the sake of the ceremony. Shego plucked Drakken's matte-gold ring from the henchman's palm and slid it onto the blue man's trembling finger. She grinned up at him as he let out a soft gasp of happiness. A shaky swallow followed his gasp, and Shego looked back down as he began to place her sparkling ring on her finger. He had soldered the wedding band to the engagement ring the night before, and the diamonds of the eternity ring reflected back the golden light of the setting sun.

"...And by the power vested in me, by...uh...oh yeah, by the state of New Jersey, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Drakken didn't move, but kept holding her hands. He was giving her knowing a look. It didn't take long for Shego to realize what it meant.

He was remembering six months ago, almost to the day, when it had all started with a kiss—a kiss of trust they had given to each other with nothing backing it, and no ground below to save them should they have fallen. But since that time they had slowly, painfully built up that trust until they had arrived at a place of surety both in themselves and each other. It was a level of trust and a place where Shego, at least, had never dreamt she could be. But this time and forever after, when they kissed she knew there would be solid ground beneath them.

They moved together, their lips softly touching in a warm caress like the rays of the setting sun. Shego could hear the cheers of the henchmen and the click of a camera shutter beyond them, but these were quickly lost as she felt her soul rise. To trust...to be one, the way she and Drakken had committed to be...was overwhelming. And though the gentle touch of his lips hadn't changed, she suddenly felt a rush like fire surge through her.

His hands abruptly left hers and his lips followed a moment later. She opened her eyes and followed his gaze down where her hands hovered green and glowing between them. She felt her cheeks color in embarrassment, but he smiled at her encouragingly. He set his hands on her waist and a moment later she smiled and put her arms up on his shoulders, holding her burning hands far back and away from his hair.

The second kiss was stronger, and she was glad for the awareness she now had of the glow because she knew it would burn hotter and brighter for the depth of love in his touch. When they finally parted, breathless, she fell against his chest as she felt the whole of her frame trembling. She _was_ embarrassed with the entire crew of henchmen cheering and whistling their encouragement, but she was too in love to care.

"Uh...um..." Claudio said, and Shego glanced at the poor, confused man who was eyeing her hands worriedly.

Drakken cleared his throat. "Now...let's eat!"

Shego watched as the group of men, looking much cleaner-cut and more worthy of socializing with in their street clothes, made their way to the buffet table that had been laid out before the ceremony. An array of picnic foods had been prepared by Drakken and three of the other henchmen who had an affinity for cooking, and the plan was for a beach-party that went on until the last person left.

Drakken's arms embraced Shego warmly. She tore her gaze from the henchmen to look up into his happy eyes.

"You look...beautiful," he said, smiling at her as if she was the entire world.

Her response was to kiss him even more soundly than before, and she made sure to hold her hands far away as he pulled her tightly against him. Then suddenly the kiss ended as she was scooped up in a bridal carry and he started taking her away from the water's edge. She instinctively grabbed his shoulders for balance, but his small cry of pain was all it took for her to let go as her hands still glowed green. She was surprised as his still-weakened body seemed more than capable of carrying her the several yards down the beach where a large picnic blanket was spread and two chaise lounges were waiting for them.

She felt more self-conscious being essentially at his mercy and without control as he carried her, but the henchmen were all absorbed in filling their plates and not a single eye was on the couple. Before long Drakken set her back on her feet and then he sat down in one of the chaises.

"Come here," he beckoned.

"Those aren't made for two," she said, eyeing the little space that remained.

"Come here," he repeated.

Shego shook the sand from her bare feet and slowly sat next to him, and the pair of them wriggled until they both fit with a modicum of comfort into the chair, Shego half-lying across Drakken to make it work. She had been able to extinguish her hands after the shock of being carried across the beach, and so placed them on his chest while one of his arms surrounded her.

"You look beautiful," he said, smiling brightly.

She brushed a few grains of sand from his shoulder and then followed his gaze as his eyes swept up and down the length of her dress, the hem lightly blown by the breeze where it draped over the side of the chaise.

"I wore white. Happy now?"

His eyes were brimming with joy when she looked back at him, and all he managed was a nod. She leaned toward him with her lips parted and wondered if the need to move her hands was about to come again, but she froze as a cough from behind interrupted her action. Drakken lifted his eyes, and she followed his gaze to where Mitch, fully recovered from the disease, and Jameson held out two plates of food.

Mitch cleared his throat. "Um. Here's your dinner, uh...Boss."

Shego reached back and took both plates from the embarrassed pair as Drakken offered an awkward thanks. The two henchmen disappeared as quickly as they'd come, and Shego set the two plates down on the blanket next to them before turning to curl against Drakken again.

"Do you want to eat?" he asked.

"Mm, soon," she said, reaching up to stroke his jaw with the backs of her fingers. She watched the diamonds in her ring sparkle as the sun approached the horizon. The hand Drakken had around her stroked her bare arm lightly while his other hand rested protectively over her middle.

They slipped into a seemingly timeless moment, gazing into each other's eyes and deeper still into each other's souls. The silent communication of love was so strong that Shego felt she could lose herself there forever, and it would be the best beginning or ending beyond anything in her imagination.

Finally, as the vanishing of the sun began to cast shadows and a slight chill over their evening, Shego broke from their private invisible world and lay her head down on the back of the chaise and stared out at the horizon.

"Well... Now what? Mister...'saved the world and plunged it into chaos all at once'?"

"...I am quite good, aren't I," Drakken said smugly.

Shego chuckled. "Yes. You are."

Drakken shifted and Shego turned to face him. His eyes were focused and and sincere.

"We go on?" he said.

Shego glanced out at the darkening horizon and the gray bumps of the islands in the distance. She still missed her old life, whenever she was reminded of it. The world...wasn't the world they had known. It may never be again.

Drakken's fingers sliding into her hair brought her focus back to him. He was watching her patiently.

The world may have changed...but so had the both of them. And for the better.

"We go on..." she said softly, echoing the words he had been saying for months. For some reason...with the confidence of his love for her, the vague declaration didn't seem so scary anymore. She sighed and smiled. "The rest of the world...will just have to catch up."

Drakken gently pushed her hair back from her face as he shifted to lean over her. His gaze was adoring as he smiled softly down at her.

Shego heard a shout and glanced over to where some of the henchmen had started a game of ultimate Frisbee several yards down the beach. The shout had come from a man who had apparently stubbed his toe in the dying light. Some men sitting nearer on their own blankets laughed at the spectacle and glanced over toward their cuddling bosses to see if they shared in the fun.

Blushing, Shego acknowledged them with a smirk and then looked back to Drakken whose expression hadn't changed.

He mouthed an _"I love you,"_ to not be heard by the henchmen as his grin broadened.

Shego's smirk grew. "What was that? Couldn't hear you, Dr. D."

He blushed and glanced down the beach briefly before clearing his throat. "I love you," he said quietly.

She didn't push him further, but set her arms on his shoulders as he leaned in closer. He wasn't hovering so much anymore as he was half-laying on top of her.

"You were worried about the henchmen overhearing, but _this_ doesn't bother you?" she said with a chuckle.

They were interrupted then as a firm kick within her abdomen signaled the baby's wakefulness. Drakken gasped.

"You felt that?" she asked as he looked down to where their midsections touched.

He nodded as he slid a hand down between them to feel for it again. A second kick came, and then a third. Shego was sure his smile could have outshone the stars.

"Come here," she said, pulling him down again with her arms around his back. He shifted so he was on his side next to her again, but leaned up on his elbow to look into her eyes while his other hand remained on her abdomen.

They fell into silence again as they stared at each other. Shego knew again that she could spend the rest of her life in his eyes. She moved her hand to his cheek to draw him closer to her.

"I love you, Dr. D.," she said. His eyes bright, he closed the distance between them and met her smiling lips in a kiss.

* * *

_In loving memory._

_[End Notes in Chapter 3]_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: This is not a chapter. These are my end notes. I couldn't make them brief enough to fit into the actual notes-box.  
_

_These notes are mostly about my personal experiences that inspired aspects of the story, so if you're not interested in that, thanks for reading and please review!_

* * *

_Writing this was a type of therapy for me, especially in the first few weeks. I wish I could say I'm at peace with the current circumstances, but it's only the peace of knowing that someday...we'll wake up and things will start getting better. I've had many ups and downs throughout this crisis, currently in a bit of a down as I write these notes today... But I refuse to stop looking forward to tomorrow._

_If anyone is wondering the "Days" that head each section of the fic are both the days tracking the pandemic and Shego's pregnancy. Because it's fic, why not. Also, the rising death count was accurate to the days except at the end where I generalized 'over 200,000.' At the publishing of this fic, we aren't there IRL yet._

_Now then — my personal experiences that inspired parts of the story:_

_My friends Ashley and Joey really are having to postpone their wedding._

_My cousin really is a doctor with a new baby, and his family is in New Jersey. It's pretty rough for them right now._

_The earthquake really happened. I was at home though, not shopping, but in the moment I did think... "Really!? **Now** of all times?"_

_I'm friends with a few cops; the rising crime/domestic terrorism is real. The headlines in my area alone are so disgusting that I've stopped reading local news. I'm thankful for those people who are trying to be positive. Sadly in my area, they seem to be outnumbered._

_Nearly all of the shopping experiences were real, right down to the dialogue. The absurdly long lines at Costco, waiting in line and distancing myself from an elderly woman, bare shelves, considering stealing someone's TP (yes, really), and receiving two packages of paper towels at Costco (though, mine weren't stolen out of my cart). The gum-throwing at a cashier was real, too._

_Camille's dad being missing—also real. My IRL friend Cameron's dad was in China when the whole thing started and he simply...vanished. But unlike in the story where I left it a mystery, Cameron's dad was found safe and healthy about five weeks later. That occurred over January/February._

_I touched on Shego's use of distraction as a coping mechanism—that's definitely me (hellooooo giant fanfic). Drakken's obsession with finding a solution is some of my friends—not directly related to you-know-what, but throwing themselves into the the new reality rather than moping or panicking their way through._

_I kept touching on the isolation/loneliness, depression, and different ways people grieve. If you'd like resources about dealing with grief, here is an article that a friend shared with me that was written very early on about the current situation:[ **Grief article.**](https://hbr.org/2020/03/that-discomfort-youre-feeling-is-grief)  
_

_The deaths... I hope we aren't all intimately acquainted with it... But... When I started writing this fic, a retired coworker of mine was hospitalized with the disease. To make matters worse, his wife also has it but because her symptoms aren't acute she was told by the hospital to self-quarantine at home. The last time she saw and spoke to her husband was when he was taken away by ambulance... He died on April 9th. It's his picture in the AO3 version of this, if you looked at it. He inspired the part of the fic about Phil's death, and the mentions of guitar-playing at his memorial._

_My coworker's wife's separation from him was what inspired the segment in the story where Shego was lost with oleander poisoning, and worrying for Drakken in the meantime while she was helpless to get back to him. It's a more fanciful correlation, I know... At the time I wrote that part of the fic, my coworker was still alive._

_I killed off so many characters (including the homeless woman early on) as a way of trying to humanize the situation. Because in real life, every number in the climbing death count is somebody's loved one somewhere. No one is just a statistic. I'm on a first-name basis with a local homeless man (I buy him food sometimes; he seems happy being homeless) but I haven't seen him since early March. I'm worried about him._

_Obviously...there will be no vaccine in the next month. But this fanfic had to end eventually. And I will be completely honest...this fic originally had a very, very different ending. Remember Shego's nightmare from way back at the very beginning? It wasn't a nightmare. My original plan was to kill off Drakken then and there and just end in devastation. Because that's the reality of this pandemic for many. I much, much later toyed with the idea of still having Drakken die in the end, but have the world laud him for creating the vaccine rather than deny him. I changed the ending into the tooth-rotting fluff you read because my pal GothicThundra insisted on a happily-ever-after. You have her to blame (thank?). And I **do** enjoy this ending! Regardless, I had always planned to end the story with some form of melancholy hope, because there are no sunshine and rainbows at the end of a pandemic. We don't get to wake up and have everything just be okay again. We'll be clawing our way out of this for a long time._

_As a Christian, one of the many scriptures I rely on is this: "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'Therefore I hope in Him!'" —Lamentations 3:22-24_

_That particular hope the Bible speaks of is what keeps me going. It's why 'tomorrow' can have meaning for me. I hope everyone reading this and everyone you love has a reason 'tomorrow' means something too. God bless you. Thanks for reading._


End file.
